Looking Straight to the Sky
by Searching.For.Enadi
Summary: So, I died. But I guess that's okay, even if I'm now living in a world full of ninjas and the like. It's just too bad that the price for having a second life is taking a job as Death's Apprentice. Oh, woe is me. OC SI.
1. A Fine Day Indeed

Ah, hello. This is the first time that I've attempted to actually write a story on this website, so, best luck to me.

**Disclaimer: May it be noted that I, Searching. For. Enadi, has never, does not, and never will have the anime, manga, games, etc, etc, Naruto. If that was so, well, I wouldn't be writing this, would I?**

**... Would I?**

* * *

**-Looking Straight to the Sky**

World: _Naruto_

Rating: _K+ - T_

Summary: So, I died. Big whoop. Everyone dies in the end. But dying, being reborn, and then becoming Death's apprentice - which includes much paperwork by the way - all because of the number four? ...I think I deserve some pity. OC Semi Self-Insert.

* * *

_Chapter I: A Fine Day Indeed_

So, I died.

Sadly, it wasn't with a big fanfare. To my slightest disappointment my death wasn't on a dreary, glum day like in those tragic movies where the heroine takes the final blow. There was no love-of-my-life screaming in protest, nor was it even _raining. _

Nope.

I died on the 4th of April – _a_ _lovely spring day_, I had thought, as I lay on cold cement with a pool of sticky liquid seeping out. It was a warm day; sunny, with dots of clouds filling the brilliant sky. And cursing the irony that was my life, my last breath gave out, with a gentle breeze, at exactly four seconds before the clock hit 4:01.

Just four seconds – just four! Four and I could have been free. Free and eating my deceased grandma's drool-worthy brownies but-

No. Death doesn't work that way.

… I hate the number four.

~o~o~o~

So, after I died – and wasn't that a novelty in itself – I was at a loss of what to do. What did the dead _do?_

There was no sign that said "Lost Souls Turn Right," and there was no train station with stops, and there certainly were no tunnels-of-light to run through either. I just… died. Floated right out of my body – which was a mess, by the way – and –

_SLAM_. The whole world went dark.

And it stayed dark, for a very, very, long time.

~o~o~o~

Death didn't approach me 'till I was dying – if that even was possible – of boredom. It, or he, seemed to take immense pleasure in making souls, particularly me, squirm. _In the dark_. It was painful, it was frustrating, and it was _boring_. He came when I was counting sheep (at one billion, three hundred and fifty-one sheep) and I _felt,_ not saw him. And that was strange by itself, because I'm pretty sure one couldn't _feel _Death approaching, and he felt like something unexplainable. It was all-knowing, all-moving, mixed with regret, acceptance, sorrow, and a twinge of happiness.

It made my head hurt.

But, more on that later. Because what I was really focusing on the _now_ then, and while I didn't really expect Death to look like anything, really, it certainly wasn't… this.

Apparently, Death did not look like the Grim Reaper, or a drop-dead gorgeous model, or even a deadly, terrifying animal. Death was nondescript. He barely reached a height of six feet, had brown eyes, brown hair, was a bit on the lean side, and had a few freckles dotting his face.

In more common terms, he looked like those guys from school, or work, that you know, but never actually _know. _That you could put a face to a name, but when people ask, all you can say about the guy is, "Oh, him? He's, uh, nice."

To put it simply, Death looked normal.

_Biggest disappointment of the century. _

~o~o~o~

Death was also, apparently, a big meanie.

Really, a big one.

After getting over my shock of Death looking so, _normal_, the entity decided to drop an even larger bag of bricks on me with his next few words.

"You. You are to become my apprentice." I guessed Death wasn't too big on using flowery descriptions and introductions. He seemed like the kind that hated social interaction and everything else that made life pleasant. I ignored the tidbit in my head that told me Death wasn't_ life_ – he was 'Death' for a reason – and he certainly was not human.

Oh, ok. Alright, no biggie. I've handled worse.

… Wait –

"- What?!" I pinched myself. And felt nothing. No pain. Because I was _dead_. With a startled shock, the reality sank into my head. I was dead. Gone, lifeless, _dead_. Ouch. I winced as the realization settled in and left a heavy weight on my chest. What about my parents? How could I have just left my family, my friends, my life, my whole world? What - what was I to do now? It was a never-ending cycle of fast paced thoughts that never seemed to stop. _Deadohmygoddead- I'm dead, I'm freaking' dead, whatnow, ohmygodohmygod-_

But I shook it off. I whipped together all the whirling thoughts that weighed like a ton and hurled it to the back of my mind. I could deal with this later. I _would_ deal with it later. I had to. There were more pressing matters. Like the one that was just thrown at me now. Apprentice-frentice, this was a whole new level of the 'shit, this is so weird' category.

"Uh, sir," _Really, how does one address _Death? "I don't suppose you could clarify? Do you mean a secretary?"

Which would be terrible, I shuddered violently, imagine all that _paperwork?_ Never let it be said that I was not polite when talking to Death. At least _I_ liked flowery words and descriptions.

But Death meant something else. Something, I would realize later, that was much, much more complex.

"No," He answered, with a voice that sent a shiver down my spine – because it was a voice of someone powerful beyond compare. "You are to become my apprentice. You will train, train and become a new Death. And to do this, you must go to a world filled with that as such. You must go to a world that was born in death, filled to the brim with death, and will die – in death. I will send you there immediately."

And in that dark world, where stood only Death and I, the wind blew. Startled, I looked around. Where was it coming from? My mind buzzed from what Death had just told me, and it didn't make any sense. The wind began to blow harder.

Realizing that my time was getting short, I desperately protested and asked,

"Why me!? I'm not special, I have no amazing talents! There should have been no reason to pick me!"

For once, I saw something, just something, conflict through the normal face that was Death.

But time was getting shorter. The winds that blew whipped past me, as if I had a physical form. My hair flew everywhere, and I could hear a whistling that grew stronger by the minute. And Death knew this as well. So he gave me the quickest answer possible.

"Your death was, then, with the most symbols, the most fours. It is not the only reason, but it is a sign. And I have accepted you as thus."

I gaped for a moment. But before I could scream in protest, before I could demand something more, something that answered my questions _better, _the wind blew even stronger, and it shrieked through the air. I could barely keep my footing, and more than once did my feet briefly leave the ground. The winds grew to impossible speeds. Sending Death a frosty glare, I finally gave in to the thundering howls and flew up into the air.

My last thoughts rang with finality.

_I should have looked both ways before crossing the road. _

_… Death sucks. Metaphorically _and_ literally. _

-o-o-o-o-o-

* * *

And there ends the first chapter, prologue, etc. It's now a relief to have gotten that off my chest.

Anyway, I would like to make this clear on updates - should anyone actually want one.

**_Updates shall be written semi-sporadically. I will definitely try to keep a regular, steady tempo with updating, but I make no promises._**

Reviews are appreciated, and helpful comments/constructive criticism are always welcome. Anything to help my writing become better always will be.

Regards,

Searching. For. Enadi.


	2. A Lovely Day Indeed

**Surprisingly enough, I have updated. I usually get writer's block after the first - gasp! the first! - chapter, but this story is rather fun to write. **

**And, sadly enough, I am updating and not focusing on exams. I'm a terrible example of a student; younglings, don't copy me. **

**Also, I was rather surprised at the response for this story, but still happy nevertheless. Thank you all who have reviewed/favorite/followed; it means a great deal to me. **

***NOTE* : On another note, someone raised a good question in a review before - why is the number four so significant? **

**- The answer is - somewhat - answered in this chapter, but I think I'll clear it up now. The number four in some cultures (like China and Japan), can also be read as 'death'. So most office/hospital/building/etc floors usually skip the number four, and usually the number four is looked upon as bad luck. **

**Disclaimer: ... No. Just, no.**

* * *

_Chapter II: A Lovely Day Indeed._

So, I came back to life.

It wasn't _my _life, the one that I had before. Nononono, it was a new start, a new life, a new _world_. Death had the clear pleasure of telling me specifically which one as I was being reborn.

Fan – freakin – tastic.

And t wasn't just any world, _no_; it had to be one from an anime. It wasn't even one of those wonderful high-school anime where I would get to wear a cute uniform and have only love problems as obstacles to life-long happiness. You know what I got? I got a lovely animated rendition of super-powered juggernaut ninjas with talking dogs and _death_.

I'm starting to think that Death just wants me squirming, squirming, and, um, squirming. He seems to have taken to piling as many stressful circumstances on my back as he can. I shouldn't be surprised.

Anyway, what really had me horrified was that when you come to a new world, you have to, you know, be _reborn_. And I'm pretty sure we all know how that works. You think the pregnant lady's got it hard?

… Yeah, I didn't think so.

I had to stay for nine months in someone's belly. And come out of said someone's womb. _And I remembered every single part of it._

Oh. My. God.

~o~o~o~

Leaving those dark, dark memories aside, I was fascinated with the 'reincarnation' – if that's even what it's called – process. While being a baby –again– was terrifying, not to mention annoying, I think it was one of the best times of my life. Though I couldn't see anything through my too weak eyes, I knew I wasn't on 'Earth', or at least my 'Earth'. And everything - the language that I couldn't understand, the architecture that was old and new, the people who were to reach impossible heights, the food, the culture, the world – _everything was amazing. _

Of course, I didn't think like that at first.

At first, I was angry. Ridiculously, unconditionally angry, and frustrated at the world, life, Death, whatever came into my head. To me, it was absolutely insane how I had to deal with living a life _again_. I was set for the other world. Death, though it hit me like a ton of bricks when I had realized it, was inevitable. And I was ready. Bored, but ready.

But what really had me furious, had me raging, was that I was stuck in a world where wherever you went, death and tragedy came right after. Plots and back-stories, things of this world I _knew _and no one else would. Characters that would be a constant appearance and ninja life -_ohmygod the ninja life consisting of torture and death and weapons with blood and death and and and-_

And for the first four days of my life I ranted like there was no tomorrow. I wailed and screamed, cried to no ends and was in all, incredibly annoying.

_It's not fair!_ I wailed in pain and frustration, my breaths hitching from a small lung capacity. Forever alone as I realized, who would – who could – understand what I knew? Tears ran fiercely down my face and there was a consistent burning in my throat and stomach that wouldn't stop. I hated every single moment of it.

And it was because of my insistent screeching that left my family – _a new family! _I had screamed in sadness more than once – worried sick and scared, for many weeks to come. But nevertheless, they never stopped trying, my mother and my father, to calm me down.

"Miu," They would murmur over and over, rocking me in arms that I fit too perfectly in. She would hum lullabies and smell of cinnamon and he would awkwardly – but gently – pat my head. And they continued to do so, for hours and hours, helping, comforting, singing, and just _being there_. Being warm presences that held me close and safe and my baby instincts leaned into them immediately.

How could I not love them? Them who held so much love for a tiny thing that screeched to no ends and brought hell to their ears?

And after four days of – almost – consistent crying, and weeping, and moaning, I slapped myself in the face.

Mentally, of course. My chubby _baby_ arms couldn't be lifted on their own anyhow.

My mind blanked for a moment. I had totally forgotten-

_-Ohmigod, _I'm a _baby_.

Calm, calm. There were worse things that could have happened to me, I consoled myself. Worse in ways that I would never – could never – be able to imagine.

(_Like being a baby_, a small voice in my head chirped). I ignored it. Or at least tried to.

It was quiet, the crickets were chirping, and my parents were getting a few hours of rarely given sleep – considering my wails that occurred at almost every other hour.

When I thought about it that way, I felt guilty. Extremely so.

Here I was, freaking about being reborn, in a baby's body. A baby that would never be able to truly grow up and truly be a child to these loving parents. And I wasn't even letting them sleep. I felt increasing shame creep into my body and it didn't look like it would be stopping anytime soon.

So I forced myself to calm the hell down. I could deal with all of this at my pace. Take it one step at a time, over and over and over. I wasn't ready to face a new reality – oh, nonono – but I was ready to face a new, should I say, _life_. Be the best daughter a parent – or at least a parent here – could have. I would enjoy the new life, learn the new culture, embrace the new family, _and then soar_.

Besides, I had a whole life to do so, didn't I?

~o~o~o~

To say my mother and father were surprised when I greeted their faces happily – with all the spit a baby could muster – was an understatement. I had cried for four days straight, and now I dare to stare at them with – hopefully – adorable eyes and a smile?

Yeah, they were thoroughly freaked out. And rightly so.

They also would have been suspicious, but they were too relieved to care. The doctor they had brought me to during my third day of hatred had said that my body was going into mental shock, although why, he didn't know. So both my mother and father rejoiced when I began to start my day with the normalcy of any other normal baby – which I was not. A normal baby, I mean. After some thought, I also knew that they would have been suspicious at my behavior if they were ninja.

Which they weren't, I realized, as the days bled into weeks. My eyesight began to clear, and I greedily took in the clarity and brightness of this new world. My gosh, being blind really _sucked._

What I first saw through my tiny eyes were my parents. And although both had a somewhat athletic build – I couldn't help but stare at the dark tattoos my father had on his right shoulder – they weren't ninja. There should have been signs, even if I was just a baby. Like, for instance, the flask jackets that all ninjas on duty were supposed to have (did they retire?), or the weapons (kunai and shuriken), or even a freaking _headband_ would have been nice. But no, nothing of the sort came up, even when I looked around the house as I was carried to and fro.

The funny thing was that my family didn't even live in a house. Or a normal one anyway. I lived in a compound – the traditional Japanese ones, with sliding paper doors and wooden floors that you could gleefully slide on with socks – and I had a number of family members.

But the only traditional houses I knew – especially big ones like the one I was living in – that were in Konoha belonged to the big bad Clans. And maybe the Hokage. At least, that was what my former memories were telling me. But when I tried to gather more information, the facts just flew right out of my grasp. Only a trickle of it swooped into my head. It was absolutely frustrating to have to struggle to remember things that I _should_ have been able to remember easily.

Another question added to the dozens already made for Death.

Despite the blocked information in parts of my head, I had enough information to compare the tell-tale looks all clans had to my lovely relatives.

Our eyes were normal, varied and colorful, with _pupils_. (Hyuuga, out). We had aristocratic looks but - we were tanned with light blonde/red/blue/rainbow (don't ask) hair. (Uchiha, out). And it went on. (Yamanaka, out. Nara, out. Akimichi, out).

A few days later, I learned that my last name was Suzuki. Suzuki Miu._ (There weren't any clans named Suzuki,_ a voice whispered in my head). I frowned.

One week later, I was taken out of the compound by my nanny – which was when I wondered where my mother was - to 'breathe the nice air'. I called bull – especially when she headed towards a young-looking man instead of the park - but it didn't matter.

Because the place outside of the compound was so, totally, radically, _definitely not Konoha._

_No Hokage Mountain, Hokage Tower, there were no large gates, none, nothing, no-_

I paused in my thoughts.

Now what?

~o~o~o~

It felt nice, being a baby – disregarding the diaper changes, the clothing changes, the _everything_ changes that I needed help with – because I didn't have to do anything; no work, no chores, no studies, no responsibility.

But that nice feeling only stayed for a good month or so, before I was attacked by a deadly disease: boredom.

(A month was an achievement, I noted, because although I had patience – usually – in spades, boredom was the only thing that never really left me in my past life).

Being a young adult in a baby's body was absolutely frustrating. The language barriers that came with not knowing Japanese didn't help either. I couldn't walk, couldn't speak, couldn't read, and couldn't even sit up properly, for the love of-! What did babies _do?!_

Sleep, that's what they did. Enjoy hours upon hours of glorious, wonderful sleep. But a baby could only sleep for practically half a day, and here I was, left with the other half.

So…

Just like any other Naruto semi-geek would, I tried getting a hold of my chakra – something every living being had. I tried to see it and get a feel for it. This became my entertainment for the next few weeks.

There was a problem, though. I saw my chakra. It was something that felt warm constantly in my body, in the pit of my stomach, and if I had a travelling guide in my body, she'd be able to pinpoint exactly where it was – "And there, ladies and gentleman, is the Hara, where our lovely host's chakra is mainly in!" "Oooh!" –

But that's all I got. I could see it – practically _feel_ it – but the first time I took a grab at it, I got nothing.

Zip, nada, zilch, nothing. My chakra, while detectable, was something I had absolutely no control over.

Oh woe is me.

And since I had no corner to grow mushrooms in for my crushed hopes, I decided to just let loose a string of curses, which just came out as a load of angry babbles from my mouth because I hadn't used it before. Thankfully, both parents were out, and the other family members were eating, somewhere, anywhere – it didn't matter.

I let out an annoyed shriek at Death.

_Make my life harder, why don't you?_

Of course, as always, he was silent.

~o~o~o~

"Miu," I looked up from the picture book I had been – attempting to – read. It was extremely thin, with only a few words on each page, but I tried to absorb it anyway. It was _something_, and something was better than nothing. My family had been shocked when I took my first steps seven months after I was born – a bit too early than most other babies. I couldn't help it, I was bored and annoyed and bored and frustrated and, oh, did I mention _bored?_

No?

Well then. _I was bored._

And I think that excuses anything else because I don't see any of _you_ being a baby again and feeling totally hopeless with tons of adults crowding you and cooing about how 'cute' you are and then going on about 'blah, blah, blah,' and other monotonous things because you _didn't understand freakin' Japanese. _

Yeah, I was a_ little_ bit frustrated.

Anyway, my first birthday had gone and past – it was on April 4th, sadly enough – and there was still no sign of Death. But I had passed the stage of screaming potty words at him in my head, and with my second birthday coming up fast, I was starting to quickly learn Japanese – (a bit too quick, apparently, but once again: _bored_). My gosh, it was a relief.

Besides, I chalked it up to the fact that Death probably just wanted to take a swing at being dramatic; he'd probably show up on my fourth birthday, four hours after midnight, and would talk to me for only four minutes and four seconds. Just because he felt like it.

"Miu," A voice called once more. I snapped out of my thoughts and scrambled to my feet, dropping the picture book to the floor. Wobbling slightly I headed towards my mother's room, just down the hallway from the play room – where I had been – my footsteps sounding unnaturally loud in the quiet compound. I slid the paper door open and entered her room, taking a moment to admire it once again.

Mother's room was fairly large – she was the Clan head's wife after all – and decorated to the brim with pictures, some made by me, others by professional artists and most by her. The smell of ink and paper was always there, no matter how many times the servants cleaned it, and it was probably my favorite room of all.

I think I liked it because of the warm atmosphere Mother always gave out, even when she wasn't smiling.

"Miu," I jumped slightly, startled by the noise, and immediately blushed. Mother smiled in amusement and beckoned me closer. "Have you been dreaming again?"

I flopped into her lap, mindful of her latest work – a black swan, I notice - and shrugged. Mother says I'm dreaming when I think too deeply.

"Not really…" I ignored the small, knowing smile Mother always has when I deny something and reached for her hair. She bends down slightly and complied with my wishes, and though it's terribly childish, especially for someone who's supposed to have the mentality of almost twenty, I began to play with it.

Mother's hair – whose full name was Suzuki Hitomi – was, in my opinion, breathtaking. It was a beautiful light red with streaks of maroon, and was always pulled up in a slightly loose bun. (I thankfully, had received her hair, instead of Father's, whose dark, dark brown hair looked wonderful on him, but would have clashed, terribly, with my pale skin). And her eyes complimented it with their dark, amber colors. In short, Mother was the most beautiful woman I had ever seen.

(Father says that Mother's hair goes against proper Clan etiquette and that she should really start cleaning herself up more after painting but then Mother says some uh, _really bad things_ that I never knew even existed in Japanese before and are definitely recording later for future use.

Uncle tried to cover my ears, but Mother was already up to a part about dead dogs, so he just gave up in the end and made me promise not to repeat her words in exchange for a lollipop.

… I agreed – with my fingers crossed – in exchange for two).

In all, I was happy. Happy with my loving mother – who was the most badass woman I knew that wasn't a ninja – and with my father – who was strict and demanding, but I knew he cared – and with my other family members, who were distant, but loving – I think – in their own eccentric ways.

For the first time, I thought I could do this; this living-another-life-in-a-child's-body-in-the-Naruto-world thing. It wasn't too bad. I had pressures – even at the age of one and three-quarters – as the clan heiress, but I wasn't in Konoha, or in any other hidden village, I wasn't near any ninja, and I was nowhere _near_ any of the characters.

I thought I could live a normal, peaceful life. But...

Apparently, being 'Death's Apprentice' meant that there was no such thing as normal.

Meaning that those peaceful thoughts? They got crushed down into tiny pieces.

~o~o~o~

I guessed right, funnily enough.

Death came four hours after midnight on my fourth birthday – on April 4th.

And I was _not_ amused.

~o~o~o~

"So," I began to pace around in the dark world Death brought me into as I slept – it looked like the same place where I had first met him, with lights centered only on us. "You're telling me, that I've been picked – me, out of six billion other people – to be your apprentice, because of the number four; because it symbolized death in another culture."

I paused in my pacing to look at him – five foot, eleven inches of it all – incredulously.

"You _do_ realize that a bunch of other people who could fill this job in perfectly fine as well; people who _aren't_ innocent teenagers that just forgot to look both ways, are there, right?"

Death just stared, slightly amused, at my words. I muttered in annoyance and began pacing again.

Only to stop to add more words.

"Did I mention that there are tons of other people who died at the same time I did?" Death shook his head, apparently very content with my anger and frustration.

"No," He spoke in a relaxed but strong tone. "You did not."

I ignored the instinct that came instantly into my body that screamed _'Danger, predator, predator, runrunrun, danger!'_ when Death spoke.

"Then, I guess you at least owe me some answers, yes?" My voice was flat and held no amusement at all.

I ignored the voice in my head that told me Death could probably banish me to wherever misbehaving souls went with a wave of his hand if he wanted to. Fortunately enough, he seemed relaxed and do I dare say, _happy _enough to answer my questions and ignore the sarcasm that came with them.

~o~o~o~

"Information from your earlier life that concerns this world is now temporarily blocked because of your small brain-"

"I'm _not_ stupid!"

"- that can only process a few things at a time. Small children are hardly capable of an adult's thoughts, let alone one's memories." Death gave me a flat stare. I met his with my own. "Once you are capable of handling all of your former memories, they will be released to you. For now, only the basic, _very basic_ information will be given to you. The emotions that came with it aren't locked, however."

"So, you're saying if there was a bad guy in front of me – one that I hated with a burning passion like the sun in my former life – I'll feel the same hatred here as well."

"Yes."

"And I won't know why."

"That is correct." Was that a smug look on face?

Breathe. Calm. Inhale. And exhale.

~o~o~o~

"So, why was I chosen anyway? And don't say that 'because of the number four' crap, you said yourself it was only a sign."

"I can't tell you."

"Please? Why not? Please, Death? Pretty please, please, please, please? I'll give you my favorite doll. It's a sheep. And it's fluffy." Death gave me another flat stare.

"Bribery at a higher authority will go as a black mark against your record."

_"I have a record?!"_

~o~o~o~

We talked for a while, about what I had to do for training (Death only gave me a vague answer, to my frustration), what his plans were for me (another vague answer), the reason for being chosen again – he refused to say – and yada yada.

Training with Death would begin four days from now – surprise, surprise – and exactly what we were training on, Death gave no clear answers. Again.

(Getting Death to give a clear answer, I realized, was harder than eating lotion covered metal sticks. In essence: practically impossible).

Death also mentioned how I would meet my first real Naruto character later today. Of course, I faithfully pestered him for more information, but he was tight-lipped about it.

He left after talking with me for four hours, forty minutes, and forty-five seconds. The extra second because I held him back before he could leave. It was an amazing feeling.

And like the drama queen he was, Death left with a scowl (an improvement from the usual flat stare) and a dramatic sweep of his cloak that I hadn't even noticed was there in the first place.

I woke up a few minutes later with a massive headache; feeling like a sledge-hammer had just whacked me at the back of my head. It felt extremely unpleasant, and even more so when my relatives and the rest of the town's people exploded to celebrate my birthday. Apparently, my Clan extends and rules over the rest of Shikimura town, and the Clan heir began his or her formal training on their fourth birthday.

Hallelujah. I spent the rest of the morning being passed on from person to person, receiving presents and giving greetings and being a nice little girl in general.

It was torture. My headache didn't help at all either.

Oh, and by the way, about what Death had said before? Um, at four o'clock that afternoon, I met my first Naruto character: one Uzumaki Kushina, who was visiting her dear cousin in Shikimura town to celebrate said cousin's daughter's birthday.

…

Yeah, you can freak out now. Don't worry, I did it too.

-o-o-o-o-o-

* * *

Phew, got that out.

And there ends the second chapter. Because of the lack of time I wasn't able to really 'proofread' this chapter, so if there are any mistakes or funny-things-that-shouldn't-be-there, then please let me know,

Of course, as always, reviews/constructive criticism/etc/etc are welcome.

Regards,

Searching. For. Enadi.


	3. A Fun Day Indeed

**Apologies for the semi-late update, but as said before, updates shall - probably - be sporadic. **

**Many thanks to all those who have reviewed, especially to those who commented on the issue of the Japan vs. China cultures. **

**Note: I have fixed and revised the earlier chapters, so if you would like to see the changed scene, you are more than welcome to. **

**So, thanks to ****_Colors of Iris, Lazalie, PersonaJXT, and Anonymous _****for their comments. **

**A somewhat slow chapter, but a meatier one than the others, and I've finally started to get _something_ done.**

**Enjoy.**

**Disclaimer: Yeah - no.**

* * *

_Chapter III: A Fun Day Indeed_

So, Uzumaki Kushina.

The name just brought a bountiful amount of 'ohmygod's and 'holyshit's.

…

I should start from the beginning, shouldn't I?

~o~o~o~

I breathed out heavily as I dumped an armful of presents to the floor. It was nearly four o'clock, and the villagers had still yet to fully end their celebration. After waking up from Death's dark world and getting an enormous migraine from it, I wasn't the happiest child on her fourth birthday.

But apparently as a newly minted four-year old, the only response I could get from my complaints was a pat on the head, a distracted "Oh, that's nice," and a shove to the crowd of people eager to meet the new heiress.

I'll admit it; for the past four years of life, the compound had sheltered me from the outside world. Pathetic for someone over twenty, but apart from the brief trips outside the compound to visit an elder, I hadn't known anything apart from the Suzuki compound. And I didn't really mind it either. It was like my own little world, with all the time in the world and loving relatives who visited to bring rare trinkets.

And suddenly, I pushed outside, outside to Shikimura town, outside to a world that I had thought I knew, but in reality, I really hadn't.

Shikimura town was _huge._ Not Konaha-huge, but my thoughts on Shikimura town being a quiet, little town were blissfully thrown away into the abyss. Whether it was because of the celebration for my birthday, or because it was just a daily occurrence, the people of Shikimura town were lively. Festive and cheerful, always happy and proud. But no matter how happy they were, no matter how large this town was, the moment I had stepped out into the outside world, I couldn't go back to that protective bubble that was the compound. I couldn't go back to the false security that was my home.

Because just like any other town, Shikimura had its own heavy problems.

~o~o~o~

When I stepped out of the compound, crossing through the large gates, past the guards that stood stock still (I wondered, _were they always there?_), and into the main plaza of the town, it was quiet and peaceful.

But not peaceful for long, because the moment one of the children running around doing errands spotted me (awkwardly wondering what exactly did I have to do), he shrieked in excitement.

"Everyone! Miu-hime's here!" And then a whole crowd from who-knows-where burst into the plaza, surrounding a tiny helpless little girl, dressed in a pale green kimono, with her hair in a low ponytail.

Namely, me.

The main plaza in Shikimura town was usually spacious, located right in front of the compound for convenience's sake. It was clean (usually) and meant for festivals, celebrations, funerals, or any sort of occasion.

I guessed my birthday was one of such occasions.

"Miu-hime, how wonderful it is to finally meet you!" People greeted me from all sides, the adults bowing slightly in respect, the elderly giving me warm smiles, and the children waving excitedly at me from their parent's shoulders.

I was completely overwhelmed. From what I could tell, their greetings held no sarcasm, no malice, nothing of the wrong kind. _These people, _I realized,_ are sincerely happy to meet me. Me, a 'four year old' who hasn't done anything for them…_

The world was starting to spin, and a heavy weight came down on my chest. What was going on…?

"Halt!" I jumped, startled by the sudden shout. The excited chatter that came from the townspeople quickly slowed down to a soft murmur. Pushing through the crowd, my uncle, whose first name was Masaru, reached towards me and picked me up from the ground. Holding me to his side, he gave me a concerned look from his gold amber eyes.

"Mi-chan, are you ok?" Still shaken from the weird sensation, I nodded hesitantly. _What am I feeling?_

"I think so. I was just… overwhelmed, Uncle. Don't worry," I tried to give an honest smile, to show that I really was feeling fine. He still gave me a suspicious look, but took my answer at face-value, nevertheless. Uncle Masaru gave a small sigh, running his hand through his dark chocolate-colored hair.

"This is even worse than what Shou-kun's birthday was like," He muttered. I perked up at the name.

"You mean Father's?" I asked eagerly. I never was given many chances to spend time with Father, even at a young age, and whether it was because he was busy taking care of Shikimura or something else, I didn't know.

Uncle only gave a distracted nod, before snapping back to attention and focusing on the steadily growing, impatient crowd.

"Everyone," He called, and townspeople looked curiously, if not impatiently, at him. "While I'm sure you all are eager to meet our new princess," He gave me a wink as I flushed, "She is only four. Let's give her some space and greet her gradually so we don't scare her, okay?"

The crowd murmured in agreement, and suddenly was hesitant. Who would go first?

I refrained from rolling my eyes. I was grateful for Uncle's intervention, but why did the townspeople seem like a massive, pouting, eager-to-please, energetic puppy?

And then, one girl, no older than eight, tumbled out of the crowd. Her face padded with dirt and grime, her clothes were too large on her, and she was missing one shoe. She flushed in embarrassment at all the eyes that trained on her, but it quickly changed when she caught sight of me. Stumbling slightly, the girl came forward to where Uncle and I were – right in front of the compound. She gave a low bow, and her face, though caked with filth, lighted up like a child's on her own birthday when she came back up to greet me.

"Miu-hime! It's so nice to meet you!" She greeted cheerfully, and I recoiled slightly from the missing teeth I saw in her mouth.

_Urgh, _I thought,_ why are children so dirty? Her parents should have at least cleaned her up-_

And then I stopped – because beneath those huge clothes, just for a moment, I saw her ribs.

(Ribs, I thought, that I shouldn't have to see on any child).

I looked at her again, more _closely, _this time. And I was completely horrified.

Cheekbones that protruded from her gaunt face, legs that were as skinny as twigs, hair colored a suspicious muddy color and grime that covered her whole body.

I wasn't a doctor – and I probably never would be – but even I, with only the knowledge of someone sheltered for four years here and for my whole life before _here,_ knew.

I had seen these kinds of people in photos, read about them in stories, thought about them, pitied them, and then moved on with my life. (Because it never seemed to touch me, the harsh reality of poverty and starvation that some had to live through since their birth).

She was hungry; hungry for food, hungry for hope, hungry for love, hungry for a life that seemed too high for her to reach.

And I had lived in a life of luxury and comfort, surrounded by warm food and a loving family

Who was I to think I could fly, when there were people like her, people in _my town_, chained to the ground?

_Is this what leadership is about? Taking care of the town, watching over the people?_

The crowd muttered in slight annoyance, and the girl flinched.

"Ah, I'm sorry," She smiled sheepishly, and all I could do was stare. _How could someone be so strong?_ "I'll just go-"

"- No, wait." I interrupted her in mid-sentence. It was rude, but I couldn't just let her go. I needed to know.

_What was going on here?_

She stopped and turned to me curiously, if not with a little embarrassment. I motioned for Uncle to drop me down – he had held me this whole time – and he obliged. I walked the few steps that separated the two of us, and then motioned for her to sit down. Surprisingly, (_or perhaps not_, a voice in my head scorned), she immediately sat down.

"You – um, what is your name?" I slightly fumbled around for words. But the girl didn't seem to mind my stumble, and happily replied, though her eyes widened in surprise.

"It's Sachiko, Miu-hime." I ignored the curiosity that came from the added suffix, and put it to the side. I was many things; rude, sarcastic, _nice_ maybe, but princess was not one of them. Instead, I gave a small smile.

"Sachiko?" I tested the name. _Child of happiness. How ironic and fitting. _I looked into her wide, dark green eyes and gave a smaller smile, but no less sincere. "It's a beautiful name."

The girl, or Sachiko I should say, flushed once more and stammered.

"I – um – it's not really – um," I took her hands, dirty as they were, and although her hands engulfed mine, they still felt small.

"No," I said firmly, my face returning to its original monotone. "It _is_ a beautiful name."

Sachiko's face couldn't have gotten redder.

And with that, I pulled her to the side and asked her to stay with me for the rest of day. I had a few questions for her and it wouldn't be good if I lost my first friend to the crowd, yes?

She nodded mutely, face still red.

I gave another small smile, and put my darker thoughts to the back of my mind, safely locked and kept till needed. Motioning for the next eager group, I could have sworn I saw a proud look on Uncle's face.

~o~o~o~

With each group that came, I had a better idea of what Shikimura town actually was.

There were the wealthy merchants – like the Suzuki Clan – and artisans that were well off. Most of the townspeople _were_ well off, which had me even more confused.

Located at the center of three other large towns, Shikimura was also just a bit further out was Konoha. It was a popular town for meetings and trades, and many travelers passed by before heading off to another place. The Suzuki Clan itself consisted of 'merchants', or rather mercenaries, where each family member specialized in _something. _Generally speaking, the public simply viewed our family as the 'jack-of-all-trades' Clan. But more on that later.

What had me confused was that while my town (and since when had I considered it _my _town?) wasn't rich, we were large and flourishing. At the end of the greetings and when the townspeople moved on to the larger celebration, I finally had time to ask Sachiko if there were more like her. If there were children, people, _anybody_ in Shikimura town who had situations like hers.

And there were. At around three that afternoon, she brought a rather large group of hesitant, wary children, the youngest ranging from two, to the eldest, who was fourteen. All orphaned; when, it didn't matter, and how… it shouldn't have mattered. Each came from an 'unsavory' family, or from unknown parents, and while the townspeople were kind enough, no one was willing to take them in. So they all lived in a small shack near the outskirts of Shikimura, fighting every day to survive.

I shook my head.

Shouldn't this only be happening in movies?

Half of them were mistrusting, staring at me with wary eyes, waiting for the punch line. I noticed, with a small flinch, that said half were from the older orphans. The younger ones just stared, with wide eyes so like Sachiko's, not sure why the ruling Clan's heiress had called them.

And for a whole four minutes, I stared. They were all covered in unidentified dark grime from head to toe, their clothes ragged and old, and the smell was absolutely horrific.

I wondered for a moment, why was I doing this?

But a part of me screamed; the part that had lived a normal life before living again, that would have never stayed still if there were helpless _children_ right in front of her. The part that clashed against four years of polished royalty, of rich clothes and exquisite food, of high-class everything and of the belief that anything less was unacceptable.

I was at a loss for words, what do I say? I wanted to help, but at the same time, I didn't want to approach it. The all-encompassing world that only existed in newspapers and photographs, the darker world that I didn't want to touch, didn't want to see.

Too late.

But my rapid thoughts came to a halt when a child came forth and gave a stiff bow: a boy from the group, the tallest one there, and presumably, the leader.

"Miu-hime," He stepped forward, and I gave a small flinch. His voice held a polite tone, but I could _feel_ the contempt underneath it. "Is there a reason why you have called us?"

Again, I fumbled.

"I – um – want to help. You all, I mean." I blurted out. And then I flushed, breaking the blank face I usually wore even at four. "What I meant was that I would like to help."

The boy knew instantly what I was trying to say. And then he jumped up for ecstatic joy and we all lived happily ever after.

-Is what I would have liked to say. But my words seemed to have the opposite effect on him than what I had hoped for.

"_Help?_" The boy narrowed his eyes, and vaguely I noticed that they were a dark brown and _cold_. His lips curled slightly, and I knew, that if it wasn't for the fact that I was the Clan heiress and that there were two trained guards watching us carefully just four feet away, he would have sneered and walked away. "We don't need your help, need your _pity_." He spat out the word as if was a curse.

"No, I didn't mean it like that!" I protested, as I tried to look into his eyes, tried to communicate that I was being honest (even if a small voice admitted that _yes_, I did pity them, because how could I sympathize?). "It's just not right for kids to live like this-"

"Are you saying how we're living is _not right?_" The boy, who couldn't have been over fourteen years old, interrupted in anger. "That we're living the wrong way? That brats like us should live a better life, but it's too bad that can't happen 'cause _nobody cares?!"_

His voice cracked at the end, but his stance never wavered, his eyes never faltered, and his cold, clipped voice cut into the air.

"Thank you for your concern, _hime," _He spat, before I could interrupt in protest. (Not that I would have, a voice sneered, because what could I have said?). "But we're fine as we are. What can a four-year old princess do for us?"

I faltered. Really, what could I do, at my barely reached age of four? _Give them money? Offer them jobs? Find them a home? On whose authority can I do it?_

The boy ploughed on, his words cutting down into my chest. "Princesses should just go back to their castles and live happily, where nothing can touch them. Isn't that right, _hime?_"

And then he turned and left, the group of orphans trailing behind, not looking behind at the stunned red-haired girl who was at a loss of what to do. *

For the first time, I felt helpless. Weak and insignificant, the joyous crowds seemed to mock my meeting with the orphans.

_Ah. That went rather well._

~o~o~o~

(It was later on that I realized I could have left them. I could have ignored them. I could have. I think, I definitely should have.

But then, I realized, leaving them was like leaving all I stood for. Leaving them was leaving all that was me before dying, and coming here. Where had I gone? Where was the girl who would not have hesitated to help those in need, the girl who would stumble and trip, but run headstrong through her problems, the girl who always, always loved more than she feared?

…

I wasn't meant to fly. I guess, I was here to fold the airplanes, support the wings, and be the wind underneath the feathers that floated towards the clouds).

~o~o~o~

So I swore, right then and there, with all my chubby cheeks and lovely, clean red hair. That I wouldn't be idle. That I would change this town, this life, this fear of change and reality.

In the end I was speaking to just the lonely air. Because nobody heard, nobody knew, and nobody saw.

But that was okay, I finally decided.

You couldn't see the wind until you felt it, after all.

~o~o~o~

Now, we've come to a full circle, as I stood there in my room, staring at the multitude of presents from family members and the townspeople. Thoughts swirled around my head, wondering what I could do, what I should do, and what I _really _could do, considering my age. Sighing again in relief and maybe a bit of sadness, I rubbed my eyes and let out a small yawn.

_Only four o'clock in the afternoon and I'm already tired._

My kimono had long since gotten dirty, stained from dancing with the villagers and greeting them all, one by one. Changing into more clean and less formal clothes – thank god, the nanny wasn't here to change me – I stretched my sore back from all the constant bowing and decided to take a nap – a long one. I was young, I could do it.

After getting a cup of tea, of course.

Even now, I wonder if that was the best or worst decision I would make in years.

~o~o~o~

I walked silently – or as silently as I could at four – to the main kitchen in the compound. Servants (an idea I was still trying to get used to) bustled back and forth, trying to keep up with the demands that the cooks made. A large dinner for the Clan only was going on tonight, and all family members were to attend in celebration. I slipped past quietly, trying to find solace in the corner of the kitchens that had a small tea-table – perfect for a casual, informal snack.

(I privately thought how funny it was, that nobody noticed the child they were all rushing about for. And then I ignored the voice that said I conceited for thinking that. The voice also said I wasn't allowed in the kitchens all by myself – with all its sharp knives and the like – but I ignored that too.

… And then I ignored the voice that commented how sane it was to have voices in my head in the first place).

And there it was; the lovely, slightly chipped wooden table that never failed me for three years. It was a popular place for both my mother and I to relax in, and more often than not, when I was young(er), she would keep me in her lap and point out the little things that people wouldn't notice at first. Like, how the head servant, Teiko, liked to lean more to the right and tap her left foot – only the left! – impatiently. Or how the cook in charge always began cooking breakfast at eight-thirty in the morning, never later or earlier.

Strangely enough, the two seats made for the tea-table were already occupied. I shuffled a little closer, unsurprised at seeing my mother, but the woman whose back faced me was unfamiliar. What I first noticed was the deep red hair, rich and full of color; _it's almost as pretty as Mother's hair. _

I paused. Bells rang in my head, seagulls called, and an alarm beeped _'important, important'_, but all I could think of at that moment was:

_A distant relative?_

My mother noticed me first, and she also was not surprised to see me there.

"Ah, Miu," She greeted me warmly. "Happy birthday my child, you are finally starting to grow up."

I gave a large smile at her small compliment. Mother's praise was surprisingly, very hard to get. She was gentle and encouraging, but praise – as I was starting to learn – was only for the well-earned. Mother sent a smile to the woman in front of her and once again, alarms rang.

"Miu, I would like you to meet my cousin, and your aunt."

The woman turned and my slight curiosity burned to a gale of shock as I got a full blast of _Uzumaki Kushina._

_Holy shi-_

The world went dark.

…

You think I can handle orphans and _Uzumaki Kushina_ in one day?

Ha. You're funny.

~o~o~o~

I came back to 'Naruto-land' just four minutes after blacking out, and feeling that massive headache from the morning start to come back with a vengeance. Death came for an impromptu visit during my black out, spouting out blunt sentences saying that yes, I was related to Uzumaki Kushina, and no, I could not pass out again after coming back, and on how important it was that I don't 'give myself away', etcetera, etcetera.

Yes, 'cause 'Apprentice to Death' is what people think first when they get a good look at me.

I was given a tiny glare from Death for said earlier comment.

When I came back to, I found myself still on the floor with a worried mother, fretting servants, and a laughing Uzumaki Kushina surrounding me. I blinked rapidly; feeling disoriented, and tried to make out the light female voice that hung over the distant clang of pots and pans at work.

"Ha, Hitomi, your kid's definitely something; she's the first one to ever faint at the sight of my face!" I flushed slightly at the comment and thought _ohmygod I hope she's not angry. _I could imagine it now: the image of a lovely red-haired little girl getting beaten by a darker red-haired woman with fury and rage in her eyes and a string of kunai in her hands.

What can I say, I had imagination in abundance.

I sprung to my feet and reassured quietly to my relieved mother and servants that yes, I was fine, no, I didn't need medicine, and oh, a cup of tea would be nice. Rosemary, specifically.

And as the servants hustled about, rushing to help and fulfill my request, I was given a second chance to introduce myself to my aunt. I stared at the beaming face of a young _Uzumaki Kushina._

Hold on. Give me a second to breathe. I think the world is spinning again.

…

Okay, I'm good.

I could say that my first meeting with one of the beloved characters of Naruto went swimmingly after my embarrassing faint attack. But that would make me a liar, so, no.

But if I look back, I guess it wasn't _that _bad.

I think.

~o~o~o~

"Um, I – hello. It's nice to meet you, um," I bowed as formally as I could, while berating myself over the slight stumble in my words and craning my head to stare at her. "I'm sorry; I did not get your name, oba-san."

It was _weird_ seeing an anime character in real life. Weird and fascinating. Living outside of Konoha probably was best for me, I realized. I would probably end up getting stabbed by kunai and dragged for torture sooner or later with all my staring. Ninja were paranoid beings. But there were just so many little things that the creators couldn't recreate, and it was all right there in front of me. Like how Kushina's hair was much darker that what the anime had portrayed, and how her eyes crinkled slightly around the edges when she grinned and how she was taller than what I had originally assumed.

(Though the voice tells me it's probably because I was just a short midget at the time).

Unfortunately, it seemed like I chose the wrong set of words, because before I could blink, Kushina had scowled in anger and moved up to me at impossible speeds. The room suddenly became tense as the workers froze in whatever they were doing to gape as she bopped me in the head – "Ow!" – and roughly picked me up. Holding me up to her face (which was a feat in my opinion, because I knew I was _not_ a light child), she gave me hard glare with her pale blue eyes.

"Kid, I am your aunt, but that doesn't mean I'm _that_ old, dattebane!" Kushina shook me rapidly in emphasis. My body shook helplessly back and forth in response. "Instead, you can just call me Nee-chan. Kushina-nee-chan. That can work. You got it?!"

I wasn't stupid. Of course I said yes.

Beside the two of us sat my mother, calmly sipping her tea, as if her own daughter had not just been manhandled like a ragged doll by her own aunt. No, she laughed, like we had just said lovely things and had pranced like beautiful daisies.

…

It was at that moment that I began to suspect that the Uzumaki Clan wasn't normal. At all.

Mother took another sip of her tea and smiled brightly at me, who was still hanging limply in Kushina-_nee-chan's _hands.

"Miu," I turned my head warily at the sound of my name. "To formally introduce you two, this is Uzumaki Kushina, your wonderful aunt. And Kushina, this is my beautiful daughter, Suzuki Miu."

And suddenly, as if I hadn't just offended her in the worst way possible, Kushina dropped me gently to the ground and gave a wide grin.

"It's nice to meet you, dattebane!" I briefly wondered at the last word, knowing that there was a reason why she said it, but once again, my information came to nil. I tucked it away for the time being and gave my own bright smile.

"It's a pleasure to meet you as well, Kushina-o…nee-chan." I hastily fixed my mistake, and the eyebrow that had twitched on her face before changed back to a lovely smile. I gave a small, nervous yet happy smile and realized one thing.

I was completely terrified.

_May I never have the genes that make all Uzumaki insane. It's not healthy. I could die prematurely. _

_Most likely._

~o~o~o~

Kushina left an hour or so later, leaving a large calligraphy set, filled with different types of brushes, ink pots, and paper as a birthday gift. The slightly insane grin she had when she gave it to me had me instantly wary and suspicious of the gift. I silently hoped and prayed that there wasn't a smoke bomb or anything of the sort hidden inside one of the ink pots.

Sadly enough, by the time she had left, preparations for the dinner was almost done, and I was to clean up and dress appropriately for the occasion – which meant no nap time for me.

Sigh.

With the help of the nanny – shudder – I dressed on time in a beautifully woven silk kimono, with a base of dark red. Embroidered on the sleeves and back were carefully stitched swans, all ranging from pale red to pure white, gracefully posed. It was this breath-taking kimono that painfully reminded me of the orphans. _The less-privileged_, as one of my aunts would sniff daintily and say. The pressing feeling from the morning came back and settled on my chest. What could I do?

But it wasn't the right time to think about the near future and its possibilities – because in that moment of worrying came Uncle Masaru, who led me gently by the hand to the main dining hall. As the doors slid open, I took a deep breath, squared my shoulders, and let go of Uncle's hand.

Because even at my young age of 'four,' I knew that this dinner wasn't just a dinner. It was a _political_ dinner.

And then I walked inside.

_Time to face the family._

~o~o~o~

The Suzuki family was huge. We were large, many, plenty, and all the other adjectives that meant the word 'big.' Apparently a bunch of mercenaries back in the good old days decided to stick together and then – _shabam!_

The Suzuki family was born.

We were a family that liked to do _everything. _Each of us specialized in a skill and pursued it till mastery. Mastery took years to meet, but there always was someone in the older generations that had done it before, so it was just a matter of dedication and perseverance; there were enough teachers to spare.

Though we were rich enough, the family accepted requests from the townspeople and towns outside of Shikimura – if the pay was fair and if we had someone capable of doing it. Usually, it was more of the former than the latter that was an issue.

Like I said. We did practically _everything_. There was Uncle Masaru, who mastered weaponry; specifically in swords. Then there was Aunt Yuka, who specialized in medicine (herbs and poisons, apparently); Cousin Kiyoshi, who was a master blacksmith; Uncle Yoshi, who mastered in fabrics; Cousin Natsuki, who specialized in the arts (i.e. dancing, singing, etc.); and I was sure there was an Uncle who specialized in juggling, but I hadn't met him. Yet.

We were known well enough that even the name 'Suzuki' was good enough to give you credit in whatever profession you pursued.

But for the Clan's head family (sort of like the leading family that the other members followed), there was no profession to pursue. Even though we had a choice to take in some subjects that seemed interesting, completing a subject till the end was practically impossible. The Clan heir had responsibilities with _everything_ instead of _something. _There were politics to learn, rulers to please, a town to take care of, a family to lead, trades to watch, and so much more.

I didn't realize the seriousness of the situation till I was sitting down, alone in the main hall with only my father as company. Dinner was, surprisingly, less formal than I had expected. Though there were some jabs at me, and at my father, it felt generally like a gigantic family dinner – warm and relaxing. Politics were lightly tied behind banter in the higher positioned family members, and it thrown away carelessly by the younger ones. Congratulations and warm greetings were mostly all that I received, and even Father's frosty looks that came by once in a while could not stop the huge grin I had throughout it all.

Dinner had to end, though. And once the family members cleared out, the dishes taken and the tables cleaned, Father requested in a cool voice for my presence, _alone._

And here I was, kneeling on a mat, back straight and head firmly facing Father's looming figure a few feet away. But Father was always a busy man, and I guess he was just busy that day too, because his words were quick, short, and precise.

"As the Clan's heiress, I expect you to fulfill your training requirements without complaint. It is time you began to learn what a leader is, and what that means to the rest of the town." I gave a stiff nod in acceptance, and Father then stood up gracefully from his mat. He walked towards the doors of the dining hall at a steady pace while I stayed at my place, the pressure from before coming down even harder than ever. It was as if chains were hanging down on my chest, and I could barely give a weak smile in response to the quiet "Happy Birthday," Father gave right before he left. My smile grew as I found that even if Father was cold and expected much, he still cared.

I then started; the strange pressure explaining itself after five minutes of sitting.

It was 'pressure,' of course – pressure of responsibility, of something big that was in my hands, of countless lives that would rely on me, of a responsibility that I didn't know if I could handle.

_Me? A leader?_

~o~o~o~

I was given a week to prepare for my lessons, relax, and just enjoy the feeling of being a 'child' for the last time. It was during the next four days that I wandered aimlessly in the compound (as the town outside was off-limits till I was given permission). I couldn't relax; because all I could think of was _whatamIgoingtodo _and_ ***!_

Leadership was something I had never considered taking part in, and something I couldn't wrap my head around even now. _I hadn't even gone to college when I died,_ I thought, panicky.

And it was with a confused heart that I went to sleep that night, on the first night of my training with Death.

~o~o~o~

I stared blankly at the piles of papers on the simple wooden desk Death had conjured from somewhere-I-don't-want-to-know. I turned to him incredulously. In return, Death gave me a flat stare from his comfortable looking leather chair and then patted almost _lovingly_ the horrendous piles. Yes, _piles._ As in plural. The _piles_ stacked neatly in front of me, almost reaching my shoulder in height.

In Death's world, I was older, at the age I would have been - had I stayed alive - but in my new body. It was _strange._

But, there were more pressing matters at hand. Like how 'bout them _piles_?

"Death, what is all of this? I thought you were going to train me," I narrowed my eyes at the languid pose Death was in, as if my question was something of no interest. But he didn't move from his chair, and simply waved a hand lazily at the first pile of papers on my left.

"Before you can do anything, you need to know the rules. So start memorizing."

I blinked.

I had to memorize all of this?

I grabbed the sheet on top and read the first few lines.

_Guidebook to all Deaths:_

_Rules on how to handle ghosts, wayward souls, and annoying spirits. _

_The Surefire Way to Succeed and Climb Your Way Up! *_

I glanced at the bottom.

*Note: _Guidebook to all Deaths _is not responsible for any mishaps, spiritual injuries, problems, blood-thirsty demons, irritating angels, meddling gods, and death-threatening situations that may come your way. We recommend the reader to suck it up and take it like a Death.

…

_Good grief. This sounds wonderful. _

I glanced back up at Death. Said entity had his head rolled back and eyes closed-

Was he sleeping?

I tempted the brief thought at grabbing a pile from the desk and throwing it at his face, but then thought better of it. I wasn't spiritually suicidal. Rolling up my 'spiritual' sleeves, I grabbed the first few pages on top of the pile, sat down on my own fluffy chair, and began to read.

_I have nothing better to do anyway. _

And in my focus I missed the small smile that graced Death's normally blank face.

-o-o-o-o-o-

* * *

**Wasn't really planning on having orphans and Kushina here in this chapter, but meh. I'm starting to think that stories have minds of their own. **

**On the other note, some flaws in Miu are revealed. She hadn't even reached college yet when she had died, so she definitely was living a sheltered life. It's common to many people, and it's kind of shocking when one sees something like this in real life. Her lack of confidence in leadership is also something that many have as well, and I hope to flesh it out later in this story.**

**I also had planned to just have her birthday celebration be quick, simple, and easy, but, like I said before - those orphans just popped out of nowhere; though it helps bring out my goal in wanting to show a darker side of Shikimura. Just like Konoha, all towns have their problems, despite what its residents may think. **

**Note: While I abhor the use of Japanese words to substitute English ones, I am a firm believer of suffixes, because they are a huge part of the Japanese culture. So, if anyone has any questions on the meaning of each one, feel free to contact me. **

**And of course, any comments/mistake-point-outs/constructive criticism/etc are always welcome, as usual.**

**Regards,**

**Searching. For. Enadi. **


	4. A Boring Day Indeed

**Hello once again. Sorry for a rather late chapter; it came out later than I had expected. My muse was not generous for the past few weeks, and reality wasn't very kind to me as well.**

**Anyway, thank you very much to all those who have read this story, especially to those of you who reviewed/favorite/followed. It's a wonderful feeling to see people who still have interest in reading this story. **

**Note: Minor edits added to earlier chapters.**

**To be honest, I actually struggled with writing this chapter, and I'm not very satisfied with the outcome. So if it seems choppy or slow - much apologies. Hopefully as time passes on, I'll be able to smooth it out even more. **

**Disclaimer: No.**

* * *

_Chapter IV: A Boring Day Indeed_

So, apparently, there are a lot of Deaths - one for each world.

Let us take a moment in silence for the single horrific thought of the possibility that there were _hundreds _of Deaths.

…

Hundreds?

Please, I could barely handle one.

~o~o~o~

"Rule fifty-six."

"A Death's main purpose is to collect souls and put them back in their proper places. In essence, we're like secretaries."

Death gave me a frosty glare for the last sentence. But he let it bypass in favor of reviewing rules one to one-hundred with me. For now.

"Rule number twenty-three."

"All Deaths are to report to our one and only leader, the Death God."

"Rule number four. "

"All Deaths have ranks; higher ranked Deaths have better privileges than lesser ranked ones, but in the end, we are all the same."

"Rule number-"

"Death?" He glared at me again for interrupting, but said nothing in return. I took it as a sign to go on and speak. "What rank are you at right now?"

Death waved his hand lazily to push away my question.

"That isn't important," I sighed.

"Whatever you say, _Master._" Though it's a low blow coming from me, I still got a small sense of satisfaction to see Death twitch at the title. _The Guidebook to all Deaths_ stated that all apprentices were to refer to their mentors as "Master," but the first (and the last) time I tried calling Death that seriously ended up with a lesson of dodging spiritual knives.

And let's just say that there is absolutely no difference between spiritual and physical knives. When those things get thrown at you, you _dodge like hell _because really, even though the wounds don't show, you still get the aching pain that stays in your body for days on end – just like real knives.

When a few seconds passed, the small satisfaction I'd received was quickly switched with growing terror: because in place of Death's dull, brown eyes were bleeding red ones.

(And after only six lessons with Death, I've learned that his eyes only change color when he's feeling extreme – extreme anger, or extreme happiness, or extremely sadistic – and when that happens, _life isn't good_).

"My dear Apprentice," Death said in a bland way, all with a blank face, but I shivered nevertheless – I could see his hand reaching for the daggers hidden beneath his cloak. Although how he always kept a limitless amount in there was beyond my comprehension. "It appears that your reflexes have gotten a bit shabby; let your amazing _Master_ help you."

(I admit it, embarrassing as it was - I squeaked).

Good gods, why hadn't I figured out a way to leave this place yet?

~o~o~o~

For the first month or so, only my Father and Aunt Yuka gave me lessons. They taught me simple things; on Father's part, he taught me the Clan's history, the dozens of trade routes we used, who was important (and who wasn't), and then we dabbled a bit on politics.

It was boring, but simple, so I could easily grasp what he was saying.

(Part of me later realized that had I been a normal four-year old, it would have probably taken me a lot longer to understand what Father was saying).

Aunt Yuka however, taught me medicine and herbal treatments. Plants, I found, took a huge part in medicine for doctors who couldn't (or didn't know how to) use chakra for healing. Those doctors certainly weren't as effective as medical ninja and the like, but for a master like Aunt Yuka, plants were extremely useful and could hold as much of a cure as chakra could.

So it was into the world of plants for me.

"You won't learn everything," Aunt Yuka told me on the first day of lessons with her, in her calm, hard tone. She was always the type to take _everything_ seriously. "You can't, actually, being Shou's daughter. But when you're under _my_ tutelage for the next few years, you better work you ass off for it, because I'm making sure you learn as much as you can, understand?!" She barked out the last part, and, fearing for my poor life, I nodded.

With Death's apprenticing rules, Aunt Yuka's herbal leaves, and Father's trade routes and history to memorize, it was all studying and studying for me.

But surprisingly enough, I didn't mind. I wasn't a terrible student in my past, but I didn't excel academically either. But here, in this life, I soaked everything up like a sponge. Maybe it was because I knew that everything I would learn was important for my future, or maybe my younger brain was able to process more information and absorb all the facts that came my way.

Regardless of the reasons, I was _learning_. And it was like opening my eyes to a new world.

~o~o~o~

Lessons with Mother didn't start till the third month of my training. By then I had moved on from memorizing plant names to learning how to apply them to injuries, from trade routes to what exactly went traded, and from rules up to number one-hundred to rules up to number two-hundred.

It was fun. Yeah.

But moving on, lessons with Mother were split into two sections. The first day was the most confusing one for me, because I had no idea what she was planning on doing. I had walked into her room, ready to face any sadistic teachings that all my mentors seemed to have, but before I could sit down, Mother raised a hand and handed a slip of paper to me. When I peeked inside, all she had written on it was an address.

"Why don't you be a dear and go help them out?"

And what could I say? 'No thanks mom, I've got better things to do?'

Uh, yeah – no, no thanks.

So I headed off to the place that held the address, and to my surprise, it was a grocery market owned by an elderly couple. And for the rest of the afternoon I helped them out – I learned that their names were Irie Usui and Kasumi – with moving boxes and groceries, and staying at the counter.

(Apparently, in this world, children could have jobs even at four if they did it well enough. In fact, nobody batted an eyelash at a four-year old working at the counter; they were more delighted to see their Clan's heiress instead).

So the morning and most of the afternoon passed with boring purchases and sweaty heat conditions. But surprisingly enough, I enjoyed it a lot. Spending time with the elderly couple let me get to know them more and see them for who they were – not as the old folks who owned a grocery, but as elderly figures whose names were Usui and Kasumi. That afternoon, I returned to the compound tired and hungry, but strangely feeling very pleased with myself when my departure from the couple brought along a bundle of warm, fond smiles and enthusiastic 'come back soon's'.

Mother had only given a mysterious smile when I came back with a wide grin on my face.

And then, for the next four hours, Mother taught me calligraphy. It was terribly complex for me (what with the three different forms of writing) and my letters looked like blocks instead of beautiful kanji, but in the end, I found it ridiculously fun.

(Calligraphy, I realized, was like painting; it was like creating a beautiful piece of art that held meaning behind every symbol that I wrote. I fell in love with it the moment I started).

Strangely enough, Mother had only given that same mysterious smile when she saw me exhausted with blotches of ink splattered all over my hands and face (but proudly beaming at my attempts) and then sent me along my way to clean up.

Huh.

And for the next few weeks, between Father's lectures and Aunt Yuka's barks and Death's lazy rules – I puzzled over the reason behind that smile.

~o~o~o~

The answer came a month later, four months into my training, in the form of Uzumaki Kushina.

It was a bright Saturday afternoon; I had just returned from helping a family of four who were moving to another section in the town (their names were Ieyesu, Tanaka, Tsumi, and Shirou) and was now focusing on writing the basic forms of kanji.

It went horribly at first – my strokes were always straying from its mark, my hand always shook and I always dropped the brush after a few painful tries. Always. But within the four weeks under Mother's tutelage (and hours of practicing on my own at night with the calligraphy set Kushina gave me), I began to improve at a steady pace.

So of course, it was on that fateful Saturday afternoon, where birds were chirping and the sky was blue, that I had my next meeting with my wonderful aunt.

And it was an amazing encounter filled with bunnies and rainbows and then we had ice cream together at a nearby pond.

Not.

Well, except for the last part.

~o~o~o~

"Hey, kid, how you doing?" My arm twitched in surprise, causing the brush I was holding to jerk right instead of its down stroke. Crushing down the irritation and overwhelming surprise at seeing my Aunt again (who popped out from literally nowhere), I looked up from my seated position and stared blankly at her grinning face. After staring and blinking rapidly for a minute, I quickly got up to my feet and bowed formally. This bow was the _proper form for relatives who you've only been recently acquainted to_, as my father would say. Apparently it was part of a leader's job to know which bow to use when facing a variety of people.

(Tilt your head forwards for servants; ninety-five degrees angle for elders and high-positioned adults; a slight bow for people your own age and younger; an eighty-five point two degrees angle for the royal family's monkey (if said family had one).

…

Thank whoever-lived-up-there that the daimyo's wife decided to get a feline pet. There were no bows for that one).

But I digress.

"Hello, Kushina-nee-chan," I wisely stopped the natural want to say 'oba-san' and gave a small smile. "It has been a while; what brings you here to the compound?"

Kushina waved her hand in a lazy way that felt rather familiar and gently reached over to pick me up. I stiffened at the contact, but relaxed when she only gave me a hug.

"Oh, there's no need for formality; aren't we family?" She replied as I hesitantly returned the hug. Kushina-nee-chan was _very_ warm. "I'm just returning from an easy B-rank mission when Hitomi sent me a message asking for a favor." She placed me down and already my usual blank face had slipped on. I blinked in surprise.

"Mother did?" And to keep up the hey-I-don't-know-you-or-your-life-story-at-all façade, I asked, "B-rank? Mission?"

Kushina seemingly ignored my questions and peered over my head to look at the kanji I had practicing on.

"Hm?" She gave a wide grin. "Pretty good, for a kid who has just started." She commented as she stared at my slightly messy but clean writing. I felt my face turn a bit red, but ignored in favor of listening to Kushina – who was still talking.

"- but your 'se' kanji is off. You wrote a different symbol – one with a different meaning, but the same pronunciation." I knelt in front of my work to look closely at my mistake, and gave a long sigh.

I had written the kanji for 'death' instead of 'four' in my distraction.

But Kushina didn't dwell too long on my mistakes, because after a minute or so she whipped out a blank sheet of paper from some otherworldly place and slammed it down in front of me. Jumping slightly at her sudden action, I stared with a blank face and wide eyes as she pushed a brush into my hands and ordered me to begin my sets of kanji again. I obeyed, of course, though a bit nervously - because although Kushina's eyes held no malicious intent, there was something sharp in there than had me wary.

Taking a few deep breaths, I took the brush into my left hand, steadied it with my right, and dipped the brush into the inkpot. I wiped the excess ink of the pot's edge, took one more calming breath and cleared my mind.

And then I began to paint.

I wrote slowly, but steadily enough that my letters came out clean and closely neat. It was nowhere near the level of my mother's writing (who took calligraphy to an art and made everything look beautiful and right), but for someone in a four-year olds' body, it was good enough, and I was proud.

Fourteen minutes later found me with a completely filled sheet; only to have Kushina then swipe the paper the moment my brush left it and replace it with a new one. We went on like this for another forty minutes, with me filling out paper after paper with kanji and Kushina swiping and inspecting each after completion.

At the end of the torture (because what else could it be?) Kushina gathered all the black splotched papers into a pile and left with a pat on my head to go meet my mother.

…

Blinking, I stretched lazily and yawned.

Strange. Why did I feel like I had just taken a test?

~o~o~o~

That night, Mother summoned me to her room after dinner for a meeting with Kushina on an important matter. Confused but apprehensive, I gave a quick but formal bow to the both of them before kneeling down to the two adults.

"Have you called, Mother?" My eye twitched slightly in annoyance as I bowed my head. While I understood how important formality could be, and the politics that came with being the heiress, it felt ridiculous being so stiff and formal to my own _mother_.

"I have, Miu," Mother responded in a calm voice, breaking my thoughts of irritation. "Just a few hours ago, Kushina showed me what you have worked on, and I must say – I am very impressed. Few at your age are able to meet the level of strokes that you are capable of."

Words could not describe the shade of red my face was as I stammered out that I was only able to meet this much with her help.

"Along with your diligence at practicing every night," Mother responded to remind me, and I could only nod my head in agreement. "Therefore, after speaking about it with Kushina, she and I have decided that your lessons on calligraphy shall transfer under her tutelage; from next Saturday on, she will be the one to teach you."

For a moment, I could only sit still, shocked at Mother's words that seemed to slowly sink into my head.

"But – but, um, why?" Ignoring the small flush that came from the slight fumble, I nevertheless went on. "Did I do something wrong? Am I not working hard enough or is there something that I –"

"Kid, do you have a problem with learning from me?" Kushina interrupted in slight annoyance, raising her eyebrows in question.

Wordlessly I shook my head.

"Then you should know that your mom can't teach shit -" Gaping at the blunt way Kushina insulted Mother, I turned only to see that Mother didn't seem at all that perturbed. Blinking slowly, I faced Kushina once more to listen to her words. "- and she's more of a painter than a seals master."

I tilted my head. Seals master? Why did that sound so familiar?

"Then, are you a seals master, Kushina-ne-chan?" Kushina puffed slightly in pride and answered with a grin.

"I am. Your mother is one, too, but – " I stared silently as Kushina gave a brief cursory glance to Mother.

"- but, like Kushina said, I am more of a painter," Mother finished firmly, not once returning the look. "And with all of our family members scattered throughout the world, there is no one else to pass on the Uzumaki Clan's tradition. We can only hope that you are willing to take this place as our only blood member, Miu."

The air tensed slightly as both women watched me carefully. But unfortunately for them, I wasn't really thinking about how important being the sole heiress to the Uzumaki Clan would be (because really, I already was an heiress; what was the point of minding the place as another?). Instead, my mind was blissfully blank as I briefly thought about the prospects of being taught by _Uzumaki Kushina_. And while I was beginning to care about her as my aunt, the only information I could really remember on the woman was that she was the mother of the main character, the wife of the fourth Hokage, and that she _died_ before she had hit thirty.

Could I really be able to see her, every week, and not say a single word?

The consequences of knowing the future was a heavy burden.

But before I could really think about the consequences of seeing a person I _knew_ would die in less than a decade, my mouth had opened and the first thing that came out was,

"Will I be able master calligraphy if you teach me, Kushina-nee-chan?"

…

Because there really was only so much wondering and fretting about the future that I could do before it was too much for me to handle. I wasn't God; I wasn't all-mighty or all-powerful. Heck, I wasn't even qualified as a _Death_ yet. But the future wasn't set in stone, and what help could I be, miles away from Konoha and in the form of a little girl?

I didn't want to rely on some pieces of vague information to plague my life; when it was Kushina's time to go, what could I do to prevent it?

_Absolutely nothing,_ I thought, as I watched the amused faces of my relatives with a blank face, _except enjoy my time with her till the end. _

So it was with a firm mindset that I faced the glowing face of Kushina, who had no idea of her untimely death.

"Of course, you will be, kid! That's the basic skill you need first before starting seals. Don't worry – with your talent, you'll be mastering seals before you reach ten!" And before I could say something serious, or wonderful, or hell, even a simple _thank you,_ Kushina leapt from the floor and began to drag me out of the room. "Now, let's get started!"

With those words, Kushina broke the solemn mood I was in.

"Wait – what? You mean now?"

"Of course!" I glanced at the clock that was hanging on the wall.

"But it's almost midnight!"

"So? You're a big girl now; you can handle a later bed time."

"I'm only four!"

"That's a fine age to start!"

"But – but –"

"Oh, don't be such a baby. Hey, how about this kid – I'll get some ice cream for you if you do well."

"There aren't any stores open at this time!" Kushina-nee-chan raised an eyebrow.

"Kid, who said I was going to _buy _the ice cream?" I looked frantically at Mother, who didn't even bat an eyelash at Kushina's blatant confirmation of thievery.

"Mother - !" I reached desperately for her, but, like any other apparently _insane_ Uzumaki member, she simply waved a good bye and calmly sipped at her cup of tea that I hadn't even noticed she had. After a few minutes of helpless and ineffective struggling, I finally gave up and let my body hang limply from Kushina's hand, which hadn't once faltered at dragging my body outside.

Sobbing silently in my head, I gazed up at the night sky from the floor and wondered: will I survive till the next day?

The stars only twinkled brightly in response; _who knows, Miu, who knows…_

~o~o~o~

"You're late." I gave a muffled sigh from the black floor I lay on, in Death's all-encompassing world. It was strangely very slippery and smooth and always_ really_ cold.

"Sorry, my aunt was very … enthusiastic about teaching me." I could practically _see_ Death's uninterested face raising a single eyebrow. _Lazy bastard…_

"Oh, is that so? Well then, I guess I'll just have to send you back to your sleep," He gave a long-suffering sigh and I listened quietly as he lifted himself up from his fluffy chair. "And I was so excited to move on from memorizing rules to something else … "

Of course, he said this all in a rather bored way, but out of all the things I've learned about Death, I knew that he was anything but a liar.

Quickly jumping from the floor to my feet, I ran in four gigantic big steps to reach him.

"Really? Are you serious?" Death only gave a blank stare at my rather stupid question; of course he was serious, when has he ever been not?

I beamed at Death's blank countenance and then sighed in relief.

"I'm so glad I'll never have to read that book again."

…

"… That doesn't mean we'll completely stop reviewing, you'll have to check at least a hundred rules every day."

I scowled slightly at that. Apparently, Death held a rather soft spot for the _Guidebook for all Deaths_, and this wasn't the first time he'd punished me for insulting the book.

"You're just doing this to spite me, aren't you?"

"Yes," - Came his immediate reply. Well, at least he was honest. "Now, let's start from rule number one."

I gave a long-suffering sigh and sat down on a nearby fluffy chair. Damn.

"Rule number one," I stated with a blank face and a monotonous voice. "No mortal can ever come back to life, unless under specific circumstances verified by the Death God himself. But what are we going to do after this?"

Death shrugged carelessly, but I knew him long enough to see that he was still sullen at the comment I had made against _the book._

"We'll probably start next week," Before I could make a protest, he raised a hand to stop me. "I'll be busy for the next few days; there's been issues going on with a war that's going to start in a while, so I have to prepare for a massive work overload."

I blinked slowly and nodded. Slightly disappointed at the prospect of having to wait another week, I continued on to list the next rule.

"Rule number two: Deaths have control over a certain amount of followers …"

Briefly I wondered. How would Kushina be able to teach me if she was a soldier for her own village? Could she spare the time to teach me?

…

I had completely forgotten about the Third Shinobi War; it would be starting soon, wouldn't it?

~o~o~o~

So another four months came and went by with absolutely no word about an on-coming war.

(Of course, there were rumors of border clashes along the east, but really, rumors were just rumors, right?).

So I relaxed and focused on my studies, which had increased to an enormous amount.

Politics and Clan work with Father;

(_"We are a large Clan, so it is up to you to remember each one of us,"_

_"Yes, Father.")._

Medicine and poisons with Aunt Yuka;

_("Faster, brat. While you're here wasting time and looking cute, there are patients out there that could be dying at this moment! Do you understand?!")._

Rules and meditation with Death;

_("Meditation? I waited a whole week so that we could start _meditating?"

_"Yes."_

_"… I think I liked it better when we were going over the book.")._

And then calligraphy with Kushina-ne-chan.

_"Kid, there are only two rules of pranking that you have to follow: one, don't ever leave evidence behind saying that it was you; two, pranks are for amusement and creativity - not to harm others."_

_"Um, Kushina-nee-chan? I thought you were going to teach me calligraphy?"_

_"What are you saying, kid? I'm teaching you the Uzumaki tradition – which means teaching you how to prank."_

_"I though you said that the Uzumaki tradition revolved around seals and-"_

_"- And pranking, kid. What, did you think your mom wasn't a prankster when we were younger? Oh, don't give me that look; we were the best pranksters in the Clan."_

_"_Mother_ was?" My face went blank as I tried to wrap around the image of my beautiful, calm, mother as a _prankster.

_"Yeah, people never thought it was her because she was always so _quiet_. Say, how 'bout we have your first prank be on your old man?"_

_"F-Father? No - !" _

_"I think he deserves it; he's always acting like he has a big stick up his ass – "_

_"Nee-chan..."_

Nevertheless, that fateful day ended with a hysterically laughing Kushina, a not-so-amused green-haired father, and a cowering child hidden behind the robes of her proud mother.

(Though, in the end, Father forbade Kushina from entering the compound for a whole month before she could even _think_ about returning).

~o~o~o~

"Again." I snapped back from my straying thoughts and struggled to lift the wooden sword that hung limply in my hand. Taking in a deep breath, I swung the sword down and then shifted to the left – a basic kata. But whatever I was doing was not right, because my teacher only shook his head and motioned for me to redo the kata.

Lessons with Uncle Masaru started about a month ago; back when Kushina was still banned from the compound. All Suzuki children living in Shikimura town (especially the heirs) had requirements to know how to fight, or at least, know how to defend themselves in an ambush.

(As traders and mercenaries, bandits were always a common nuisance that we had to deal with).

But training usually started when the child turned eight, when he or she had a good idea at what they were going to do with their life. So then why was I here, at age four, swinging around a wooden sword?

As if he had just heard my thoughts, Uncle called for a stop and walked over to the training ground I was in.

"Miu," I stared blankly at Uncle's exasperated face and resisted the urge to shiver; December in Shikimura was _cold._ "I know that it may not seem necessary to you now, but I need you to focus on completing these katas; they'll help you a great deal in the future."

I tilted my head, face still blank, in confusion. Luckily, Uncle had lived his whole life with Father, who was probably the master at poker faces, and could easily see the question in my eyes.

"You are the Suzuki Clan's heiress, Mi-chan," He reminded me, as if I had totally forgotten the reason to why I was taking these lessons in the first place. "When we celebrated your birthday, your existence became known to the world. And there are enough people out there who are low enough to try to take you away – just to get to our Clan."

Ah, kidnapping. I nodded slowly in understanding, but it was difficult to wrap my mind around Uncle's words. Nevertheless, I continued to listen to him carefully.

"Your form is not so bad, Mi-chan, but unless you try to put some effort into training, there isn't much I can teach you. You are lacking in intent." I winced at the honesty laced with Uncle's voice, and flushed slightly. I was never one to enjoy physical activity; it seemed a bit pointless to me in my earlier life.

But I nodded my head again anyway, and lifted the sword in my hand to a beginner's stance.

Kidnapping was dangerous, I knew that. But it felt so unrealistic; memories of stories that filled my other world with dangerous men and terrified hostages was so far away that it seemed like a never-lifting haze that I didn't really feel like swimming through.

_Really, _I thought and stupidly _assumed_, c_ould such a thing really happen to me?_

~o~o~o~

Four days before Kushina-nee-chan's return answered that for me.

"What are you looking at, brat?" I flinched away from the guard that was standing a few feet away as he spat in my direction.

Blinking slowly, I thought about how I had ended up here in the first place.

_There was a blur of movement, it was dark and I couldn't sleep and then I couldn't breathe because arms had wrapped themselves around me and then -_

_I woke up here._

Quietly looking up at the damp rotting ceiling, I wondered if I would ever see the sky again and cursed myself for not taking Uncle's words seriously. Silently, as I sat in a cold dark warehouse with only a few rats for company, I realized with dread that assumptions were _dangerous._

In this world, anything was possible.

-o-o-o-o-o-

* * *

**Once again, apologies for a choppy chapter - and the insanity that is Kushina as well. **

**There will probably two to four more chapters on Miu's childhood, and then we'll pick up the pace and move on to her arrival to Konoha.**

**Grammar mistakes are probably abundant in this chapter, so anything that seems glaring to you, I'd be much appreciated if you told me.**

**So, thoughts?**

**Regards,**

**Searching. For. Enadi. **


	5. A Worrisome Day Indeed

**And here comes chapter five; holy nugget, I never expected to come this far. **

**I must say, when I started this story, I wasn't expecting that much feedback, but all of your thoughts have helped me through all of this. So, much thanks to those who subscribed, and especially to those who reviewed: your ideas and general feedback helped me a lot with writing this chapter. **

**Special thanks to those who pointed out what I could work on with my writing; you know who you are, and I can't thank you enough. **

**So, in honor of reaching the fifth chapter (holy mackerel), I have switched point of views for a good part of this chapter. Don't worry, you'll know when you get there. **

**And is this just me using this as an excuse to shamelessly put in Team 7 with the Fourth Hokage?**

**Maybe.**

**Disclaimer: Nah.**

* * *

_Chapter V: A Worrisome Day Indeed_

So, I was kidnapped, abducted, taken away - whatever you want to call it.

And it wasn't the best experience I've had since like, _ever_.

~o~o~o~

I stared blankly at the wall across from me, ignoring the snores of the guards just outside of the ware house. It had been four days since my kidnapping and to put it nice terms, it really _sucked_.

The first day was the worst.

I had woken up, groggy from the drugs still in my system, in a building with a freezing floor and rotting walls. The warehouse itself wasn't large; it could barely fit a few grown men, but for a small child like me, it was huge. There were stacks of hay dripping wet just a few feet away, and the place was filled with dirt and grime. I was cold, terrified and wet from the damp puddles surrounding me – but I didn't dare open my mouth. The first and last time I had tried to make a sound was met with a harsh kick to my stomach and a snarl for me to shut up.

The bruise wouldn't heal for another three weeks.

But that was the last time a guard attempted to hurt me. Whether it was because I hadn't made a single sound, or because they were ordered not to, I was not touched since. Instead, I was left mostly alone, with my legs tied down, and given two meals a day.

(The meals consisted of stale bread and a bottle of unfiltered water, but by the second day I was too hungry to even care).

The night of the first day couldn't come fast enough - I was eager to contact Death and have him take me out of here.

But night came and sleep followed after, and the next morning when I woke up, there was no Death.

Fear clawed at my heart on that morning of the second day;_where was he? _

And so the next few days passed on in fear and confusion. Sometimes, in a fit of anger and loneliness, I would contemplate escaping by myself – and then a minute later, curse myself in stupidity, because there was _nothing_ I could do. My ankles were tied tightly to the floor, my kimono long since torn and dirty, and the only exit to the warehouse was located on the opposite side of the room, always guarded by two men for the whole day.

And Death was still silent.

Against all of this in a four-year old body, what was I to do?

_Clank._ I looked up. Freezing my whole body, I watched blankly as a man entered the warehouse with a tray of food. Ignoring the grumbling demands from my stomach, I clamped my mouth firmly shut as he carelessly dropped the tray to the floor, leaving it barely out of my reach.

"Enjoy your meal," The man sneered, his grimy face twisting into a mutilated smile. "It'll be your last before we take you out."

He paused, staring wickedly at my face for a reaction. But I stayed perfectly still, my face staying blank as I tried in vain to push down the sudden panic moving in my chest. The man shoved his hands in his pockets and snarled wordlessly at my lack of reaction. Kicking the tray and spitting on the floor, he walked stormily out of the warehouse.

The moment he was gone, I came back to life, grabbing the fallen bowl of soup and the piece of stale bread. Face still blank, I took a desperate bite, only to grimace at the I managed to swallow the chunk and take another bite; I hadn't had a 'meal' since the morning of yesterday, and it was evening now.

The fourth day.

_But still_, I thought hopelessly, _it's the _fourth_ day_.

Which meant Death _had_ to come.

Right?

~o~o~o~

It was with almost overwhelming relief that I found myself in a familiar dark world. The cold, smooth marble floor felt soothing against my bare feet, and the darkness surrounding the light around me was a comfort. And in the middle of it was Death.

"Death!" I exclaimed. My blank face broke as I was overcome with relief and desperation. In return, Death simply shoved his hands into his clock pockets and gave a blank stare.

"Hm. It seems you've gotten yourself into some trouble." I almost fell forward.

"Some trouble? Death, I was _kidnapped._" I deadpanned, regaining my footing and blank stare. "I think that merits a bit more than _some trouble_."

Death shrugged. Apparently it wasn't too worrying to him. I sighed and flopped down onto the cold floor. Tracing the intricate black designs on the white background, I briefly wondered at their meaning.

"Can't you just take me out of there?" Without even looking up, I could tell that Death's expression had not moved an inch.

"You already know that Deaths cannot come into the physical plane unless there is a dire emergency."

I slightly scowled; a twinge of irritation filled my chest. Did my circumstances not count as an emergency?

"Then can't you take the bandits' souls?" I asked, a sense of desperation creeping into my voice. "My family may be skilled, but they don't have the skill to track me down. They're going to take me somewhere else tomorrow; Death can't you – "

"Do you understand what you are saying?" I froze. Death's voice abruptly turned cold, with steel lacing into his words. A shiver crawled down my spine as I was suddenly reminded of who _Death_ was. "I cannot 'just take' souls here and there, especially for a simple kidnapping. Death does not happen for any other reason than when it is a person's 'time.' Who are you to break that balance?"

My hands clenched as I silently stared at the floor. It was the first time I had seen Death so _angry. _His voice had not risen in the slightest, but the still air was suddenly filled with tension.

"We Deaths are not all-powerful," He continued on, and the temperature in the dark, dark world suddenly dropped. "We have our limits, our restrictions; is that not why you have memorized those rules? And even if that was not so, can you really say those words so easily? Are you willing to carry the burden of taking lives from the living world so readily?"

I burned. My face flamed red as I bit my lip in shame. Death's words crashed into my head like a thousand tons of glass. _Stupid, careless, you should have just kept your mouth shut._

"You are not the only one with problems; can you kill without hesitation and result to solve them?" I stayed silent, watching Death's black shoes turn on their heels and slowly walk away.

"If the answer is yes, then you are not fit to be my Apprentice."

His voice echoed with finality, as I was left all alone to burn in shame at my careless words.

And then the world turned completely dark.

~o~o~o~

I woke up the next morning, wet, dirty and cold.

Sighing heavily, I leaned back on the wooden walls behind me and blinked up towards the damp ceiling.

Was there nothing else I could do? Were my words really that stupid? Had I really done all that I could have, should have?

…

I stared blankly at a puddle in front of me, a few drops from the ceiling above falling down from time to time.

_Drip. Drop. Drip. Drop. _

… I suppose I haven't. I haven't done all I could have. I simply waited for an easy way out, relying on Death because it seemed like the _only_ choice, the only option.

_Drip. Drop. Drip. Drop._

But these bandits were taking me somewhere today, right?

My hands clenched in frustration at my sudden feelings of helplessness. I wouldn't let this get me down. If they're planning on taking me somewhere, than I might have a chance, a chance to find a way to slip out.

The chances were slim, but really, there wasn't anything left for me to do. I was weak and hungry; Death had left me for my senseless words. It's time to make up for what I had lost.

_I guess it's only me against the whole world now. _

~o~o~o~

"Minato-sensei!"

He turned around from his waiting spot on the bridge and smiled.

"Good morning, Rin-chan, Kakashi-kun." His student smiled brightly at his greeting and gave her own reply.

"Good morning, sensei." She glanced uncertainly at the brooding boy next to her, and shrugged when he made no move to speak. Minato smiled fondly at the pair; only four months had passed since their team was formed, and rarely did he ever regret his decision to become a jonin-sensei.

"And where is Obito-kun?" He could practically _see _the scowl behind Kakashi's face; there were waves of irritation flowing out of the chūnin's body.

"Hmph. Who knows? He probably overslept." Minato gave a small smile at Kakashi's scoff. The two boys of Team 7 always did have a rivalry of sorts, even if it was one-sided at best.

His only female student, Rin, smiled in exasperation and sat on the ledge of the bridge, pulling out a thick medical encyclopedia.

The three waited for another hour or so before their last member decided to show up.

"Sorry, sorry!" Uchiha Obito called, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly. "There was a fire in a nearby supermarket so I stopped to help put it out and then there was an old lady that needed help with her groceries – "

"– Save it shrimp." Kakashi interrupted, annoyance filling his voice. "That's a terrible excuse."

Obito in turn bristled in indignation.

"It's true! I did help them!" The Uchiha paused for a second, and then, "And don't call me shrimp!"

"Shrimp." The silver-haired boy smirked as Obito yelled in anger.

Sighing, Minato watched silently as Rin finally joined the fray and tried to stop the two boys.

"You two, stop fighting!" She bopped the two on their heads and Obito wisely closed his mouth as Kakashi simply gave a glare at the medic. "Minato-sensei said that we're going to get a special mission today!"

The two males swiveled their heads simultaneously to face their sensei. Really?

(Sometimes, Minato wondered whether the two knew exactly how similar they were to each other, and then decided later on that it wouldn't matter – friends or not, he was sure the two would always beat the crap out of each other regardless).

Grinning, Minato waved scroll in front of their faces and tossed it to his team. Obito scrambled to reach the mission scroll first, only for it to be in vain as Kakashi dashed towards it at a much quicker pace. Scowling briefly in anger, the Uchiha nevertheless shrugged and, along with Rin, crowded around the scroll. The boy brightened at the sight of rank bolded at the top.

"C-rank?! Minato-sensei, I love you!" The blonde in turn chuckled at the sight of his student jumping and whooping in joy. After four whole months of only D-rank missions, his team was more than ready to take on a higher ranked mission. Kakashi, however, stayed serious and read the rest of the scroll's contents out loud.

"Mission: C-rank," The rest of the team ignored Obito's loud screams of happiness in favor of reading. "Objective: To find and retrieve the heiress to the Suzuki Clan; disappeared four days ago at 1900 hours; suspected to involve low rank shinobi."

Rin tilted her head in slight confusion.

"Sensei," She began hesitantly. "This sounds more like a low B-rank mission; aren't C-rank mission generally supposed to involve escorts and something more … simple? It'll be rather difficult to track down a child when we have absolutely no clues."

Minato smiled sheepishly at his student's words.

"Ha, well you see …" He blinked, thinking back to the previous morning.

_"Minato, you have a genin team right? Here, take this mission scroll – the old man said I needed to take a full team with me if I wanted take this mission, and I need Kakashi-kun's dogs – and meet me at the gate with your team tomorrow at noon! We're going to find my niece even if it kills you!"_

_Reflexively catching the scroll tossed his way, Minato stared dazedly at the woman he sort-of-might-kind-of-possibly like, speeding away at furious speeds, screeching on about bloodshed and revenge. _

_Opening the mission scroll, he sighed and rubbed the back of his neck._

_Well, he was planning on getting his team a C-rank sometime this week anyway…_

"So, Kushina is also joining us on this mission. She knows her niece's family the best, so she might have a better idea at where her kidnappers may have taken her; apparently, a villager from a town half a day's journey away said he saw a warehouse guarded by a few bandits. We'll probably start from there."

"I didn't know Kushina-san had a niece," Rin mused, tapping her cheek thoughtfully.

"I didn't know Kushina-nee was so awesome! I can't believe she lowered the rank of the mission to let us go!" Obito grinned widely as he hopped from one foot to the other. "It's practically a B-rank mission!"

"I didn't know Uzumaki-san knew I had dog summons. I just got them a few days ago." Kakashi deadpanned in return.

The three paused in their thoughts and turned to glance at their sensei. Minato laughed nervously in return. It was considered rude in the shinobi world to give out tactics or any sort of information on a ninja to another one. Being underestimated was something all ninjas strived for, after all.

"Sorry, Kakashi-kun, she asked, and it just slipped out when I was talking with her." The three genin shook their heads in response (with Kakashi giving a slight glare at his sensei) and silently walked away to prepare for the mission. As he stood there watching them go, Minato could have sworn that one of the three was muttering something that all three seemed to nod at.

"He is _so_ whipped." Minato took offense to that.

It wasn't true.

At all.

Definitely.

~o~o~o~

_You are so whipped._

_I know._

-Was the silent conversation that went on between the three laughing genin and their resigned teacher. Though Minato was technically the mission leader, as he was the one to accept the mission, throughout the whole day, he had let the frazzled Kushina take charge after the woman had gave him a _look_ that had him give the position over in a heartbeat.

"Come on, you three! Pick up the pace before I leave you in the dust!" Obito and Rin collectively sighed, while Kakashi gave a silent glare to both his teammates and Kushina before speeding forward. Meanwhile, Minato simply sighed in exasperation and gave an encouraging smile to his team. Jumping from branch to branch with ease, he spared a glance at the woman's face and winced.

Kushina was really terrifying.

His team, along with an impatient Kushina, had left the village at half past noon this morning, and from then on had sped along the trees at a rather quick pace; a pace that had even Kakashi, for all his stamina, out of breath after five consecutive hours of running. And despite his requests for breaks for his tired team, Kushina had only relented for a few minutes before dragging them off to run again.

"Monster, she's a monster, I'm never going to take a mission with her ever again, even if it's an _S-rank_ mission. No, never, evereverever, she's a monster…" Minato didn't even have to turn around to know that it was Obito that had spouted out the same mantra over and over for the past ten minutes. Rin, for all her scolding, could only protest for a short while before she herself silently agreed with her teammate's words, and Kakashi had long since ceased his barbed insults at the Uchiha – the boy stopped paying attention to his surroundings a good thirty minutes ago.

Finally, after an hour or so more of running, the team came to a stop at Tanzaku Gai, one of the three cities surrounding Shikimura, the town that the Suzuki Clan compound resided in.

"Kakashi-kun," Kushina called, and the boy nodded in return, stepping away from his awe-struck teammates who were now admiring the enormous castle the stood towering above the city. "Could you call out your summons now, please?"

Giving a short, brisk nod to the team leader, Kakashi swiftly bit his thumb through the thin veil covering his mouth, formed a few hand seals and slammed his hand to the floor.

"Kuchiyose no Jutsu!" With a _poof, _came out two ninken, one Minato and his team recognized as Pakkun, a small bull-dog, and another who simply introduced himself as "Bull." Grabbing a piece torn from a child's kimono from Kushina, Kakashi knelt and offered the cloth to the two canines.

"Pakkun, Bull, I need you to find the girl with this scent; there could be a possibility that she was taken somewhere around here." The canines paused, and Minato for a moment thought that they would refuse (Kakashi had just signed his contract a few days ago), before they both nodded and sped off into the forest to the right.

"Let's move." The rest of the team nodded at Minato's words; and to his slight amusement and pride, even Obito seemed to take the mission seriously, putting his ever-so-faithful goggles on.

It was a good twenty minutes before the ninken ceased their movement, nodding once to Kakashi before disappearing with a slight _poof! _It was at that moment that Minato heard a faint murmuring, and immediately, Kushina motioned for the team to hide behind the subterfuge. And as the rest of the team followed her orders (with only Obito stumbling slightly before diving underneath some bushes), Minato could sense a group of seven or so genin-level bandits coming their way, and none too soon did he see the group walking underneath the tree that he had jumped on.

"Hahaha, wait till boss finds out what we have for him, it'll be enough to feed us for a good six months!" One bandit crowed, his face filled with dirt and over his shoulder was a sack, something he seemed to carry with no small amount of pride. The rest of the bandits roared in approval, and just barely could Minato see the bag twitch; immediately he knew, along with the rest of his team, that the missing heiress was in the sack.

Sighing at the low growl that came from under the tree, Minato decided that this would be the best time to ambush the bandits: when they were content and unaware of their surroundings. Shaking the branch slowly to tell the rest of his team, Minato gave a count to three silently in his head before shooting out of the tree and knocking the nearest bandit down with a swift jab to his neck. Only a second passed before Kushina, followed by the rest of his team, jumped out as well and joined the fray.

Luckily enough, they were in a small clearing, giving him and his team enough space to fight. Trusting Kushina (who was jabbing one bandit with three kunai in each hand and senbon in her mouth) to watch over his students, Minato rushed quickly to the bandit's 'leader,' who was beginning to run away from the fight. Ignoring the man's feeble protests, Minato swiftly dealt with the man with a sharp right kick to his ribs and a right hook to his face (Minato pretended to ignore the satisfaction that came with the crack of the bandit's face and ribs; the thief deserved to be handled with more, well, violence, but he knew that was up to Kushina).

The bandit went down with a slump, and gently catching the bundle from the man's arms, Minato set down the bag and opened it to let the child free – only to catch his breath.

If he hadn't already known that Kushina didn't have a child (something he made sure to know), he would have thought that the girl in front of him was Kushina's daughter.

Disregarding the piercing, deep green eyes that replaced the older woman's laughing blue ones, and the lighter colored red hair, the Suzuki heiress was like a duplicate to Kushina's younger self. The high cheekbones that would soon show after losing the baby fat, the raised eyebrows and the small, pointy nose – all of it was from Kushina.

Which was impossible, as the girl was only Kushina's niece, but perhaps, Minato mused, those traits were the typical physical characteristics of the Uzumaki Clan. Shaking his head from his straying thoughts, Minato knelt down and greeted the almost five-year old girl.

"Hello," He greeted, and was surprised when the girl only stared blankly at him, her face showing hardly any emotion at all. But her eyes were an open book, and he could see a whirl of relief, wonderment, fear, and confusion, all mixed in one. "I'm Minato, what's your name?"

"Miu," The girl responded after a long pause, and Minato gave a reassuring smile when she looked into his eyes. Miu slowly blinked and stood, turning to look over his shoulder. "Is Kushina-nee-chan here too?"

Minato gave a smile in surprise. How had the girl known?

As if hearing his silent question, the Suzuki heiress answered in a slow monotone.

"I know she's here because I can hear her death threats from over there." And sure enough, if he concentrated over the clashes of weapons and men screaming, Minato could faintly here Kushina screaming profanities at the few standing bandits, yelling about castration and blood torture. Smoothly, he covered his hands over the girl's ears; there was no point in having innocent ears hear the things that had even the Hokage fear Kushina for.

"It's okay; Kushina-nee-chan used the same castration threat to one of my guards last month, it's an old one." The girl apparently was reassuring Minato, who didn't feel very reassured at all about that fact that a four-year old girl had just said she heard these sort of threats regularly, and knew what castration _meant_.

And for a few minutes, Miu was silent, with only the sounds of men screaming and Kushina's profanities filling the air. Silently, Minato wondered if it was alright for a young child to see such sights; but even when he moved to block the girl's sight, Miu continued on staring, as if looking right through Minato's body and out to the battlefield behind him.

In minutes, the battle was over – as quickly as it had started. Sliding over to let Kushina engulf her niece in a bear hug, Minato went over to praise his team, commenting on how they could improve; "Kakashi, you're still not letting your teammates help you, Rin you fought rather well, but remember, as the medic, you must not forget to avoid getting hurt. And Obito, next time, try to not hid behind the trees whenever a bandit manages to hit you."

Collectively ignoring Obito's indignant shouts of denial and Kakashi's blunt insults, Minato turned to watch Kushina attempt to calm her niece down. The girl had not moved from her spot, even after the sweeping embrace Kushina had given her, and was still watching the battle site with withdrawn eyes and shaking fists.

Motioning for his students to follow him, the team waited patiently for the Suzuki heiress to calm down; whom, Minato realized, only took a brief five minutes before she regained her senses, taking in ragged breaths before unclenching her fists and giving a small smile to her fretting aunt.

And with that, the group moved on, heading off towards the general direction of Shikimura, with Obito offering the small child a piggy back after seeing her stumble for a good four minutes. The girl thought about it for a whole minute, staring deeply at Obito's face, before agreeing and hesitantly wrapping her arms around the older boy's neck.

Suddenly, Obito gave a loud, energetic whoop, and sped through the forest at a somewhat slow pace for shinobi, but startlingly fast for civilians, especially civilian children. To the heiress's credit, the girl only gave a small squeak of surprise before clinging even tighter to the Uchiha's neck to avoid falling off.

Giving a bright grin that had Kushina strangely turn slightly red, Minato motioned for the rest of his students to follow Obito before he caused him and Miu to become lost – and cause both the Suzuki Clan and Kushina to go after his head.

(Briefly, Minato noted that at the clearing, Miu wasn't looking straight at the dead bodies that littered the floor. No, she was staring at the space above the bodies, at the empty air, as if there was something actually there.

Which was strange, because there wasn't anything _there_, right?)

~o~o~o~

By the time they had arrived at the Suzuki compound in Shikimura town, Minato - along with his fatigued students, were thoroughly amazed and – in Kakashi's case – slightly impressed.

Shikimura town was grand; there was no other way of explaining it. The town was warm with beaten down roads interlinking with others, and shops littering the way to the compound. The townspeople were even warmer, greeting the shinobi with interest before ecstatically welcoming the much missed heiress. What surprised Minato even more than the amount of enthusiasm that the weary group was met with by the townspeople was the way the Suzuki heiress responded in return.

"Welcome back, Miu-hime!" An elderly couple approached the tired, blank faced girl who had insisted on walking on her own two feet the moment the group had entered the town. But the moment she set sight of the couple, there seemed to be a slight relaxation on the girl's face, and she bowed in return.

"Thank you, Usui-san, Kasumi-san. It is good to be back." Though Miu had not smiled once when speaking with the couple, the two seemed to beam in return and left quickly, as there were even more people coming to welcome the girl.

And there was the surprising part. Every single greeting the heiress received, she returned with a blank expression, responding and calling the towns-people by their names. It was impressive, Minato admitted in his mind, to remember every single name and connect it to a face; the girl must have worked hard to do so. Shikimura was not small in the slightest; it was a center of trade and commerce, and many famous shops resided in the town, due to it being a constant destination for many travelers to visit.

"Wow," Both Obito and Rin breathed out, staring at the breathtaking plaza that was the center of the town. Minato couldn't help but agree. The massive fountain that stood at the middle, spraying jets of water, and along with the intricate designs carved into the cracked stone floor seemed to give off a feeling of peace and tranquility, of something ancient and unmoving.

"Hm." Minato smiled at the fake disinterested look that Kakashi had donned on; the pre-teen was looking intently at the lanterns that filled the night with a bright, warm glow, encompassing the whole plaza into an ethereal scene.

The entirety of Team 7 snapped out of their thoughts when the gates to the compound swung open, and quietly followed the tottering girl who led them inside. When they entered the actual compound (which was immense), the first one to greet them was a tall dark-haired man, with tanned skin and even darker green eyes. For a moment, the two parties stared at each other before Miu stepped forward and gave a deep bow.

"Hello, Father," Minato could feel his student's surprise. "I have returned from my trip."

To his left he could feel Kakashi stiffen. With narrowed eyes, Minato watched as the Suzuki Clan head stared coldly at his daughter for a while before giving a stiff nod.

"I see. See that you learn from it and continue to improve your abilities." Placing a firm hand on Obito's shoulder, who was about to jump on the Clan's head, and giving him a warning look, Minato's eyes stayed trained on the small girl's figure that stood still and unmoving.

"I understand, Father." And after giving another low bow, Miu continued to stay in that position, only lifting herself up when her father left the premises. Turning to face her rescuers, Minato stared at the small smile that graced her lips. Spending a good four hours with her had Minato come to realize that Miu was not a very expressive girl. Her feelings were tucked into a small pocket of her heart, and only now did Minato realize where that habit came from. A smile after a meeting with an uncaring father was hardly what he had expected.

"What was that?!" Obito exploded, not able to contain himself any further. "You were kidnapped by bandits for_four_ days! And he didn't even say anything about it! What kind of dad is he?!"

Miu only smiled for a moment in response as a seething Kushina merely snorted. Then, her face melted back to her blank expression, and responded in a bland voice.

"Obito-san," She began, ignoring Obito's encouragements to use only his name without a suffix. "My father may be cold, but he is still a father. He may not express his feelings in a normal manner, but telling me to improve and learn is saying that he does not want something like this to happen again. And so, I will. I will never let myself be in a situation where my only companions are helplessness and weakness."

And suddenly, Minato felt as though the winds had begun to blow. But just as suddenly, it was gone, and Minato blinked, wondering if he had imagined it.

Motioning for the team to follow her, Miu led the team to a few empty guestrooms, inviting them to stay for dinner and a night. Ignoring the hand that Kushina had taken into her own, Miu continued on speaking, all the while directing a multitude of servants to help set the futons and new clothes up for the guests.

"There are many things I want to when I become the head. No, Tanaka-san, I am perfectly fine. I simply need a good night's rest." Miu answered to a questioning servant, and then moved to let a group bring in more futons. "Father is a strict ruler, but he is fair, and that is all that matters. But even he will not touch the outskirts of Shikimura; there are a group of homeless _children_ living near my town, and I cannot do anything about it."

Here, the girl almost seemed to spit the words out, but the heiress remained motionless. And after reassuring her aunt that she was fine, Miu then turned to a silent Obito and answered his question.

"My father, while not the best, is still a father. Who do you think was the one to send a request for a mission to Konohagakure?"

And then Miu bade them a goodnight, leading an impressed Rin and a proud Kushina out of the room, while the males of Team 7 remained.

Smiling at the contemplative Obito and brooding Kakashi, Minato decided that in the end, Team 7's first C-rank had gone rather well.

He only hoped that it would continue to be so for the next few years, for the sake of his team and village.

War was brewing, after all.

~o~o~o~

"So, is he your boyfriend?" I asked calmly, with a blank face as I waved back to the departing team. Despite the endless amount of relief I had felt from being rescued, I couldn't really say if it was without some danger.

Imagine; here I was, lying contently on a man's shoulder in a sack, then I'm dropped none-too-gently on the floor, and then who do I see the moment I leave the body bag?

The mother-freakin' _Fourth Hokage._

(Determined, I ignored the voice snickering in my head saying that Namikaze Minato wasn't Hokage _yet._ After all, the war that had turned him into a hero had yet to happen).

Yeah, let's not give cute, little Miu any more heart attacks any more, okay? I'm pretty sure she can only handle one per _life_.

Meanwhile, Kushina-nee-chan spluttered and choked on imaginary spit. Luckily, she did not die, or else she would have been the first ninja to die of non-existent spit. Fascinating.

"What are you saying, kid? We're not going out or anything like that! We're just friends!"

"Uh-huh." I nodded, face still blank. "Keep on telling yourself that, Nee-chan."

"Why, you!" I watched as Kushina turned into an interesting shade of red. Huh. It was even darker than her hair. "You know what? Extra lessons for you, we're going to review everything! Starting from the basics!"

I blanched.

"_Everything_, Kushina-nee-chan?" I asked, trying – and failing – to keep the panic out of my voice. Everything was _a lot_.

"Yes, kid. _Everything._" And there was a certain maniac glint in Kushina's eyes that made me shudder. Definitely, we were going to _everything. _

But that didn't mean I wouldn't go down without a fight.

…

Five minutes later found Kushina-nee-chan dragging me to the inner gardens of the compound; it was the best place to have lessons, with the beautiful pond filled with koi fish and the multitude of herbal flowers surrounding us.

I paused, glancing up at my aunt and gave a small smile.

"So, are you guys going out?"

"Kid, do you even know what that _means_?!"

"Of course. It's when a girl and boy like each other very much – "And I droned on, telling Kushina all about my thoughts on what 'dating' was.

And so, my life suddenly returned to normal.

Or, well, at least, as normal as it could have been.

Which wasn't much.

~o~o~o~

"Uncle, I'm sorry for not taking your word seriously enough. Could you please help me learn better?"

"Of course, Mi-chan. I'm glad you asked. Now, let's start with ten laps around the compound."

"The _whole_ compound?"

Nod.

…

Sigh.

~o~o~o~

"Brat, I can't teach you anymore; come back in a few years."

I stared blankly at Aunt Yuka's blunt words.

"But why, Aunt Yuka?" The middle-aged woman clicked her tongue in annoyance.

"You're not focusing, kid. You're so absorbed with Masaru's sword play and Kushina's teachings that you've barely improved with herbal medicine at all. Come back when you're ready to focus on learning again." My face burned in shame at the thought of being so inattentive to my studies.

I thought I could handle all of them at once –

"Brat, you can't do everything at once." I snapped my head up, surprised at Aunt Yuka's words. The tan woman only clucked her tongue again. "You're only four; you haven't even lived to be a decade yet. Take your time; I'll still be here in a few years. There's no need to rush."

I gave a small smile at that.

"Thank you, Aunt Yuka." She only snorted in return.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. Just get out before you contaminate my herbs with your cuteness, brat."

~o~o~o~

He sighed and stared with a flat face.

"You know, there's no reason you should be kneeling. Get up."

I stayed in my place, bowing my head in apology.

"Death, I am so so-"

"Leave it." And suddenly, I found myself sitting in a familiar fluffy chair; something that I hadn't touched for a few months. "I'm not actually angry."

I blinked in surprise.

"You're not?" He shook his head and looked upwards in boredom. "Then why has it been so long since that last…"

I trailed off, thinking back to my first – but not last – kidnapping. The most terrifying part of that event was when the bandits were killed. It wasn't even the blood that had disconcerted me the most. No, it was what came after.

From their dead bodies, I could _see_ their souls coming out of their corpses. The souls were terrified, shrieking at the sight of their own bodies, wailing and bemoaning about their now-finished life.

And then came the Eki-Biyo-Gami.

They were essentially the 'followers' of Death, though human's could become them as well.

Eki-Biyo-Gami, or the Eki, followed the orders of the Death in that world, and were the ones who usually cleaned up most of the 'messes.' Rarely were souls ever picked up by Death himself; there were too many dying to do so. Instead, the Eki would gather and lead the souls to their rightful places, with Death overseeing and regulating the whole process and more.

They were frightful creatures, the Eki. The Eki were harmless, but looked terrifying and held the image of whatever being the current Death wanted them to hold - Death decided on the image of grim reapers. Masked faces with dark, withering cloaks and hoods, the Eki of this world were the perfect embodiment of 'death.' Still, they were harmless; unless, of course, you resisted their instructions to move on.

And boy did those _idiots_ resist.

It was brutal, and completely one-sided. The Eki here had weapons of scythes and metal chains; the bandits had no chance at all. In the end, all of them were tied up tightly in chains and held at knife-point, and they were all taken, screaming in pain and horror, through a portal to the Seven Hells.

Strangely enough, for a 'minor' incident, Death had showed up as well. For a whole minute, we had stared at each other, my eyes wide and his flat and completely blank.

Then he was gone.

And I hadn't seen him until now, almost four weeks later.

"Ah, well, I was busy, and then I sort of forgot to visit." I inwardly groaned. Of course it would turn out like this. "You've been practicing your meditation, yes?"

I nodded hesitantly, face carefully blank. "Of course."

Death nodded back, looking slightly pleased.

"Good. I'll need your assistance in this year especially." I blinked. Since when had _Death_ ever needed my help?

The being in question sighed, a long and worn out sigh, rubbing his eyes tiredly. Suddenly, Death looked _old. _And that was strange, because Death never looked over the age of twenty, he never looked tired of the sort. But now, he felt old, old and _ancient._

"Miu," I immediately ordered my eyes to come back from out of their sockets and paid complete attention to Death. Never had he ever called me by a name, so why was he starting now? "You don't have much experience in the field of death, but you're going to have to learn anyway. We're in for a shitty ride for the next couple of years."

I frowned slightly, but nodded in acceptance. The first thing to deal with would be…

Death looked straight at me and gave a tired smile.

"First off is the Third Shinobi War; and you're going to help me collect souls. It's time that you start learning what it really means to be a Death; memorizing rules is no longer enough."

Of course. The war.

Ah.

~o~o~o~

And so, no more than four weeks after my fifth birthday, did the next Great Shinobi War begin.

It was the beginning of a world filled with chaos.

-o-o-o-o-o-

* * *

**This chapter was a mini-monster in my opinion; I would have cut it shorter, but I couldn't find a good place to stop.**

**The orphans have not disappeared, no, they will be coming back the next chapter, probably; I have plans for them.**

**There probably will also be more appearances of Team 7, possibly with the start of the war coming next chapter. **

**Just as a note, pairings, as many have asked, is still undecided. I would like to get the plot moving forward first, and then romance might come in later, but it's not likely. So try not to keep your hopes up too much. **

**And so, more info on the world of Death; I hope you all are enjoying it as much as I am. **

**On the other hand, I hope Miu comes off as a realistic character to you; it's something I tend to worry about sometimes. **

**Apologies on the rather long author's note as well.**

**Regards,**

**Searching. For. Enadi. **


	6. A Long Day Indeed

**I, for the life of me, never thought I would make a chapter this long - it just seemed to flow out like that.**

**So, I'll try to make this short.**

***Note*: It's important to know that I have slightly changed the previous chapter's timelines to match this one's. The Shinobi War now has started four weeks after Miu's fifth birthday; and Death was only gone for four weeks before coming to find her again.**

**If you would like, you can go back to the previous chapters to go check.**

**On another note, thank you so much to those of you that reviewed/subscribed, you're thoughts and actions have helped me with this story a lot.**

* * *

**Disclaimer: As. If. **

* * *

_Chapter VI: A Long Day Indeed_

So, apparently, I had a lot of misconceptions about war.

Sure, I knew that war wasn't good; it wasn't adventurous nor was it glorifying. If you died there then that's it: you're dead. _Bam! _Dead. _Whoosh! _Dead. And then dead, dead, and dead.

But what I didn't know was that war was completely uncensored – it was gritty and gory and everything else in between.

I had thought that the history books I had read in my other life would prepare me for the worst in this one.

Hah.

I'm such a fool.

~o~o~o~

"So… What do I do with this?" I gingerly held the weapon in my hand, testing its weight and trying to hold it properly. Without a word Death grabbed my hands and moved them to their proper places.

"Right hand on top, left a few inches lower. Don't hold so tightly, or you'll end up dropping it." Death reminded me as he adjusted my posture for the last time. Nodding slightly, I quickly followed his instructions and gave a couple of familiar swings. There were only a few minutes before daylight would break – and then the first battle would begin. Death had brought be into the spiritual plane after I had told the servants that I could not be disturbed in my sleep, no matter the circumstances.

"Got it. But Death," I began, eyeing the scythe warily. I was given a practice one for a few months before the beginning of the war – but today, Death had given me a real (and extremely sharp-looking), authentic scythe. "Must I really use this weapon? It makes me feel like I'm in a dramatized movie where I'm the main villain."

"Yes, you must." Death answered immediately, still adjusting my posture in some areas, with his face completely blank. "And to make you feel better, you're not the main villain: I am."

I felt my mouth twitch and replied in a monotonous voice.

"Of course. That makes feel so much better. My heart feels reassured." Death moved back and motioned for me to try a few more swings. Watching carefully as I obliged, he gave a slight nod in approval.

"I'm glad." Waving his right hand, Death separated the newly summoned Eki into two separate groups. I glanced at his blank face and raised an eyebrow in question. Spreading his arm over the larger group of Eki to our right, he answered, as if almost bored. "You will take the ones on the right and move to the left side of the battle. I, however, will take the middle and far right."

I nodded slowly, refusing to show Death the nervousness that suddenly seemed to creep into my stomach.

"Understood." Beckoning over the group, I watched silently as the hooded figures glided towards me. Immediately I felt a good half of my spiritual energy vanish to support the large number; these Eki were now under my command. For once, I was thankful for the boring days of meditation that Death had me go through – it greatly helped the growth of my energy. The number of Spiritual Eki you could command over depended on the strength of your spiritual energy; they needed the support, otherwise, they would just slip back into the Underworld, where all the other spirits resided.

(And though I was proud of the amount that I could support now, I couldn't help but feel slightly bitter as a voice whispered in my head that _Death_ could support easily ten times the number that I had.

But then, as quickly as it had come, I shoved that bitter feeling curling inside my stomach down into the deepest crevices of my heart; because there were more important things to deal with than petty _jealousy_).

"Ah, before you go." I paused in my steps, and the Eki gliding behind stopped as well. Turning my head slightly, I tilted my head to show Death that I was listening. "It's probably best that you know your weapon's name – Ueta Shishi."

_Hungry Beast._

I froze before snorting. Waving for the Eki to start moving again, I turned away from Death and his small army.

"... How cliché. I can think of five other, better names than this one. And I'm terrible at naming things."

"If you say so. It's better than a few others I have heard of." I ignored Death's bored statement and kept on walking; only raising a hand in farewell when he called a monotonous 'good bye' later on.

Quietly walking on, I ignored the pointed stare that I could feel from behind, boring into my back and into my heart.

I ignored the silent _'be careful'_ that seemed to radiate from Death's aura.

I ignored the chattering Eki, who all spoke a different language that could not be heard, and their eagerness for battle.

And trying my best, I ignored the humming from Ueta Shishi's staff along with the sweat that seemed to pore out of my hands and into my yet-to-be-stained gloves.

Instead I looked up at the dawning sky – and took a deep breath as I watched the looming clouds that darkened as the morning began. Giving Ueta Shishi a twirl, I waved the Eki to move quickly and dashed ahead when I received a confirmation in response. Keeping my head straight ahead, I refused to look at the two hidden armies below and focused on reaching my destination.

_It's showtime._

~o~o~o~

"Holy shit." And though the Eki could not say a word, I knew that they would thoroughly agree with me. Keeping Ueta Shishi close to my side, I jumped and landed behind a just awakened soul. Tapping his shoulder lightly to have him turn around, I tried to smother my wince as the soul screamed - Ueta Shishi sliding smoothly through his torso. _Okay. Next time, don't let them see you when you're collecting souls. _

Despite that we were in the spiritual plane, and even though I was Death's apprentice, the Eki and I still had to fight to collect the newly awakened souls. We couldn't convince each soul to come peacefully to the next world; there were just too many to reason with.

(And silently, I added that shinobi were more than likely to run away from a soul collector than agree to come with it; it was just in their instincts to take the hard way out).

Another sad fact was that I had nowhere near the amount of power needed to make a portal large enough to swallow these souls. It was those portals that were probably the reason Death on the other side of the battlefield was having no trouble at all.

Scowling slightly, I ran silently to next soul – a chūnin from Iwa – and quickly swiped Ueta Shishi's blade around the boy's neck before he could even register that he was already dead.

_Collection successful. _

And that was the trick – put a killing blow through the soul and _bam! _The soul is then sucked in and kept inside the hollow end of Ueta Shishi's staff.

But that was a major disadvantage for me. How could I, with only a year or so of experience in fighting, be able to land a _killing blow_ on shinobi who have trained for their whole lives?

I groaned as the next soul I had approached was the wrong one to follow. The man was a jounin from Konoha and it seemed like the ninja already had realized that he was dead.

There was a reason why I only tried to collect souls who had just awakened – it was easy because of their disorientation and had no idea where the hell they were. I could easily take them by surprise.

"Um, I don't suppose you could just come along quietly?" The man in question gave me a look that asked if I was just born out of my mother's womb. I flushed slightly in return, breaking my blank face. "R-right. Yeah, sorry. It's been a long day."

But that didn't stop me from rushing over and taking a swing at his head. Though due to the man's muchmuchmuch more superior reflexes, Ueta Shishi only managed to slide through the air. The jounin flew quickly back, putting distance between himself and Ueta Shishi, and glanced warily at its blade.

(To be honest, I don't know why the sight of me wielding Ueta Shishi brought so much wariness in shinobi.

…

Though I suppose it does make sense; in the spiritual plane, I was Miu as a twenty year old, and I had not changed in appearance since the day my body hit twenty in Death's world. Death himself did not look a day over that age, and it seemed as if that age was the set limit that Death seemed like staying at – not that I was complaining.

But still, with my long, red hair tied in a ponytail with battle gear and a sharp-looking scythe that held black and red engravings swirled along its edge?

…

Hm. Maybe the sight_ was_ a bit strange).

Sighing slightly, I dashed up to the jounin to close the distance and swung Ueta Shishi a couple of more times. Sliding to the left, I winced as a kunai that was flung from the ninja nicked my cheek. Staring into his wide eyes, I guessed that he hadn't known if it was possible to use the weapons that came with him from the living plane. He had probably just thrown the kunai by ingrained instinct.

_Shit. I was hoping that he wouldn't figure it out. _

Groaning at the sight of his determined face, I twitched my fingers, calling a dozen Eki to aid me, and cursed the stubbornness that was _ninja. _Really, what could you do after _dying?_ It's not like you could come back to life, nor could you find a job or anything of the sort if you ran were these idiots so head set on just _winning,_ instead of thinking things through?

(In my head, I supposed that the main reason ninja souls were so afraid of moving on was because they didn't want to face the consequences of _killing_).

I mentally snorted at the thought.

Your Judgment wasn't based on how many you killed (though it did affect some parts of it). It's based on the character of your heart. You cannot hide your true identity, because your soul is the barest part of your being. It is _you. _

Turning away from the sight of the panicked jounin who paled considerably at the dozen Eki, I looked down to see the enormous fight occurring in the physical plane.

And then I regretted doing so.

It was gruesome. Absolutely, terrifyingly, sickening, and gruesome. Bodies were strewn all across the forest terrain, and the slight smell of burning flesh from Katon Justu seemed to overwhelm the area. I took in a giant gasp as suddenly a stinging tang of bloodbloodblood flooded the battlefield and blasted my senses.

_It's strong, _I thought clinically in a separate part of my panicking mind, _it's really strong, __for that scent to penetrate into the spiritual plane. Very few things can enter the spiritual world; only the overwhelming can surpass the barrier. _

My breaths became shorter as pressure seemed to come in from all sides. _Why did I look down, stupidstupidstupid, ohmygod there's blood and flesh and detached limbs over there and –_

I froze as a cold presence flitted to my side, and a pale, yellow-skinned hand placed lightly on my shoulder. Forcing my shoulder to relax, I took in a single deep breath, and let it all out.

Wiping away the tear that had slipped from my right eye, I took in another shaky breath and let it out. I slowly stood up, leaning limply on Ueta Shishi's staff and gave a grateful nod to the Eki that had approached me. Eki gave off a cold presence in general, and I was grateful for its willingness to approach an authority figure – it helped to cool off my head. I appreciated it, as they were naturally obedient and usually did not move out to do things without orders.

"Would it be alright if you emptied Ueta for me, please?" I asked softly, with my chin set straight ahead, struggling to keep my words firm and my back straight. _Don't think about, don't look down, don't look down, don't think about it, don't, don't._

The Eki in question nodded and motioned for two of its kindred for help. It usually took three or more Eki to open portals to the Underworld, and those portals could only ship captured souls – it took much more power to open portals that forced souls to pass through.

Wincing slightly at the various cuts and bruises I had received from fighting (I knew they would sting in the physical world as well), I gave a relieved sigh, and just once, briefly stared at the battlefield underneath. Determinedly ignoring the unmoving bodies (and the sudden urge to hurl the non-existent food in my stomach), I noticed with relief that both sides were thinning out – Konoha was retreating for this battle. Walking away from the weary cries of triumph from the opposing side, I motioned for all the Eki under my command to gather. Nodding in thanks towards the Eki that handed back Ueta Shishi, I closed my eyes to concentrate and gathered the remaining scraps of my spiritual energy.

Flicking them open, I let out a grunt and snapped my fingers.

And then we were gone, headed off to the dimension that was Death's world, and leaving behind a mountain of bodies and burned trees.

~o~o~o~

The moment I awoke, I ran to the nearest bathroom and threw up everything that was left in my stomach. But that wasn't much, and by the end of my mini-panic attack, my stomach and throat filled to the brim with pain from trying to hurl up something that wasn't there. Sweat streamed down my face and neck, and my long hair clung to my face, leaving me feeling hot, humid, and disgusting.

_What a great way to start the day,_ I sneered in my head. For a moment, my mind went blissfully blank; then once more images flooded into my head from the early morning, with the dead everywhere and blood; blood that was such a pretty red color, blood that covered the entire floor.

And then I was down again, crouching on the wooden floor as only forced air escaped my lips.

(_Don't think about it, don't think about, don't think about, don't, don't_).

For forty minutes I stayed in there, trying to calm down and regain some sense of mind. Ragged breaths were the only sounds that came from my mouth, and I struggled, struggled to keep a single sense of stability.

(_In and out, in and out, in and out – bloodbloodblood – in and out, in and out_).

_In and out,_ I repeated in my head, over and over again, my eyes darting back and forth in the bathroom. I needed to think of something else, something other than this, something good, something happy and warm and _not red_.

…

In and out.

…

It wasn't till the sun hit high in the sky that I was able to stand and hold myself up. Taking in deep, deep breaths, I cleaned and washed away all the sweat and vomit sticking to my body, thinking only about the basics of seals – nothing else.

(Seals can change with a single stroke; turn left and suddenly it's an exploding tag. Turn right and suddenly it becomes a stasis seal. There are thousands of forms for calligraphy: blocks, curled, wavy, and more. These forms make up your style: the style you use affects your work, so learn to write kanji in different forms. The kanji for 'bo' is used for -).

Staggering to the door, I stumbled once more when a flash of fleshfleshflesh crossed my eyes. But my mind clamped down on the images before my stomach could start its dance, and I clenched my fist on the doorknob to keep steady.

_In… and out._

Counting silently to four, I straightened my back and widened my stance. And though my throat felt dry and my head pounded consistently, I kept my face blank and my hands steady.

_Miu, the moment you step outside of your room is the moment you are not alone. People will watch you, waiting, eagerly, to see you fall. There is nothing better than seeing an heiress show her emotions to the world; they will see that and use it against you. _

_That is why you must never lose control – your emotions are emotions, but when you are in the world's eyes, they are no longer emotions; they are your weapons. Handle them wisely, or others will use them for the sake of their own pleasure._

_Do you understand?_

I squared my shoulders and took one last, deep breath.

_Yes, Father._

_(Perfectly; crystal clear). _

I will get over this. This is not the end; how can I live again if death is all that hangs above me?

(It will take long – those bleeding corpses won't leave me soon).

But these chains that hold me back won't stay forever.

~o~o~o~

"Have you called, Mother?"

"I have. Come, Miu, take a seat." Kneeling down on the bamboo mat, I straightened my back subconsciously as my eyes zeroed in on the growing bulge on my mother's stomach.

Apparently, Mother had been pregnant for a good four weeks before I had gotten kidnapped.

(And though she wasn't told about my kidnapping - a really _stupid_ move by courtesy of Father-, I knew that Mother was very aware of my whereabouts; there was no way she couldn't have known, even if she had not said a word about it since then).

"And how are you progressing in your studies with Kushina?" I silently snapped back from my thoughts and answered in an even tone.

"It is going well, Mother, despite her lack of absence in the last week. I have learned about how important... _chakra _is." I couldn't stop myself from emphasizing the word; I was only learning about it in theory, but that couldn't halt the eagerness churning in my stomach to learn it. I had thought, with me being born outside of a Hidden Village, that I couldn't learn how to use chakra. But learning how to use chakra wasn't 'illegal'; Kushina-nee-chan was simply not allowed to share any jutsu belonging to the village or the clans residing there. "According to Kushina-nee-chan, it is a necessary part in making real seals."

Mother gave a light laugh and grinned brightly as she nodded in agreement. "Yes, that is correct."

(And here I wondered: was Mother always this happy?

… The wonders of pregnancy; it will never cease to amaze me).

"Though I must say, you have surprised me with your progress; you have far exceeded my expectations in perfecting calligraphy. Although," She paused in thought, and if she noticed the light red coloring my cheeks, she made no move to comment. "I suppose that it is due to the time available to you; you have dropped many of your studies."

And here, Mother's voice dipped slightly and I politely turned my head away. With the exception to the occasional study session with Aunt Yuka (which rarely happened these days), the only studies I pursued now was seals with Kushina, and swordsmanship with Uncle Masaru.

Lessons with Father stopped on the day of my birthday, which was over four weeks ago. Although the war had only just started barely a day or two ago (_In, out_), the many border clashes and brawls between shinobi have long since affected the trade routes in nearly all the countries.

Which - considering that the Suzuki Clan _lived_ off of these trades - was a rather _bad problem_.

So it was up to Father, as the Head of the Clan, to clear up the multiple problems sprouting up from seemingly nowhere. Every day he was contacting family members from different countries, calling contractors and the rulers of other towns.

And it would only get worse with the start of this war.

"Yes." I nodded my head, with my face carefully blank. "But I am still looking over the necessary lesson plans that Father has given me; it is more than enough."

Mother smiled and patted her huge stomach with contentment, but her dark amber eyes filled brightly with worry. But in a flash it was gone, and all that was left was the perfect image of a healthy mother, waiting patiently for her baby to come, and for her husband to rest from work.

Quickly, I forced my face to blankness once more – there was no point in telling Mother that I did not believe that sight for even a minute.

Tilting my head, I tried to move on to a lighter topic, one which involved my oncoming sibling.

"Um, what will be its – I mean, his or her name?" Trying to ignore the light pink that painted my cheeks – and cursing my mouth all the while – I watched with quiet satisfaction as Mother suddenly glowed with pride.

"Your new sibling is a boy, Miu; Yuka-san was kind enough to find out for me. As for the name, well, your father and I originally were not sure of which name to pick: either Tsubasa or, the one I liked, Fuuta. However, in the end, your father was gracious enough to allow me to use the name I had wanted."

Translation: Your father and I fought over the name; he was going to pick a stupidly cliché name like 'Tsubasa' but luckily, I saved your brother's ass from total embarrassment by 'persuading' the man to let me win.

Ah, I see.

I couldn't stop the small smile from my face as I commended Mother mentally for her stubborn will.

Though it wasn't a set rule, it was tradition for all the children of the Head family to have names related to the wind, or the sky. Father probably consented with Mother's name simply because the first character of the name, 'Fuu,' could be translated to mean 'wind.'

But before I could comment further on the soon-to-come baby, the sounds of someone's thundering feet interrupted our conversation. Tilting my head, I listened silently as the _pitpat_'s of a running servant filled the hallway. Strange, the Clan tradition usually frowned upon running in the hallways, so rarely did the servants do so. Turning around, I raised an eyebrow in question when the sight of Teiko-san – the head maid – asked and was given permission to enter.

"Miu-sama," My back straightened even further and I gave a firm nod to the woman, giving her permission to continue. Teiko-san in return took a few gasping breaths before righting her stance and continuing on. "Forgive me for interrupting, but the team from Konoha has arrived – they are waiting for instructions in the center grounds."

I frowned slightly at those words.

"What about Father, Teiko-san? Is he not in charge of overseeing the procedure?" I frowned discernibly as Mother became very still. "Where is Father, Teiko-san?"

The woman did not seem fazed. Smoothly answering my question, the woman gave a deep bow in apology as she explained that Father was resting and desperately needed it for the oncoming meeting in a few hours.

"Suzuki-sama has entrusted the overseeing of exportations to you, Miu-sama."

Obviously, her response did not answer the booming question in my head.

_What fool would entrust the reins of an important matter like overlooking the exports to a _five-year old?

My hands twitched slightly at that thought.

(And here, I wondered whether it was the stress and lack of sleep that caused Father to make such a decision; granted, I wasn't really _five_, but no other mortal knew that, and that certainly did not mean that I was capable of doing something so important.

…

But then I thought back to the last time I saw Father – which was over a week ago. He looked so exhausted; even with his blank face, it was clear to anyone who looked that he tired every day: the slight slouch in his back, the curled shoulders, the dark bags underneath his eyes, and the rapid blinking that he constantly seemed to do – all were signs of fatigue).

My mind swirled into motion as my heart confirmed my decision; I nodded firmly at Teiko-san, and pretended not to notice the slight relaxation of her shoulders.

"Teiko-san, do not worry, I can find my way to the entrance." Watching carefully at the woman's fervent nod, I gave a low bow to Mother (who simply smiled in worry) and another slight nod to Teiko-san.

Four minutes later found me at the center plaza, where traders were bustling about in chaos. There were vendors shouting for last-minute sales, merchants who bargained and argued over each product's quality, and traders who simply were eyeing each warily – the war did not help to ease their faith in each other in the slightest.

And in the midst of all that chaos stood the familiar Team 7 – without the soon-to-be Fourth Hokage.

_Oh, joy._

Sighing, I rubbed my head at the soon coming headache, rolled up my kimono sleeves, and tied my hair up into a neat bun.

_Let's begin. _

~o~o~o~

Trotting over to the cracked fountain, I climbed up to the edge and gathered my courage.

"U-Um, hello?" I flushed slightly at my fumble, but it went totally unnoticed. The traders in the plaza barely gave me a glance before chattering once more, and the only ones who were fully alerted of my presence were the ninja present.

"Miu-hime!" Obito greeted me with enthusiasm, eyes lighting up at the sight of me. And without further warning, he picked me easily up from the fountain's edge and twirled me around a couple of times. "It's been so long! What's up?"

Recoiling slightly at the sudden contact, I patted the boy's arm in an awkward way and tried hard to push down the sudden urge to hit something.

"I am doing fine, Obito-san." I once more patted his head awkwardly; face still blank, before asking, "Now could you please put me down?"

The kid simply laughed and gave a wide grin.

"Of course, of course!" Sighing mentally at his tactlessness, I turned and greeted the other two members of Team 7 with the same amount of enthusiasm I had used with Obito – that is to say, absolutely nothing.

"Rin-san, Kakashi-san, it is good to see you two again." The medic gave a bright smile in return and we exchanged a few more pleasantries before I glanced at Kakashi. The chūnin simply grunted and gave a short nod as I tried my best not to stare and compare my story image of Kakashi with this one. And soon, my mind went blank as I repeated the same mantra over and over again:

(I am not going to freak out over seeing _the _Hatake Kakashi, I am not going to freak out over seeing _the _Hatake Kakashi, and I am not going to freak out -).

I'm not going to freak out. No. Just, no.

"Though I am sorry that we had to meet again in such a way, would it be alright if one of you could bring the crowd's attention here?" I asked politely after saying my greetings, as there was no way that I could bring the traders to silence by myself.

The three ninja looked at each other, before both Kakashi and Obito began to argue over who would have the honors. My patience went only so far as to waiting for four minutes before I simply asked (or demanded) that either they work together, or, if they weren't so willing to help, to leave the town. The two quickly snapped their mouths at that and nodded; if they left now, they would not have fulfilled the requirements for the mission, thus causing them to return to Konoha with a failed mission, and a black mark to appear on their record.

I watched silently in curiosity as after a minute of huddled conversation, the boys of Team 7 begrudgingly stepped forward, with Rin looking resigned and amused at the same time.

Moving his hand rapidly in succession, Obito gave a wide grin and shouted excitedly, with Kakashi silently making a few hand seals as well.

"Watch this, hime! I just learned this new jutsu a few weeks ago!" I blanched in my head as I broke my blank face to try to explain that _no,_ I did not want a display of jutsu; I just wanted something to silence the crowd. Wasn't there a trick to amplify your voice using chakra?

"Wait, Obito-san, Kakashi-san, that is not necessary –"

_BOOM. _

I allowed myself to lose the polite mask just this once as I face-palmed dramatically.

_Too late. _

Schooling myself as I watched the ball of fire shoot in the sky, I crossed my fingers and silently wished the best of health for the two boys.

If there was even a single scorch mark on the premises of my town, the two would most definitely pay back fourfold.

Pinching the bridge of my nose, I slowly took in a deep breath and tried hard to ignore a new argument that appeared on whose fireball was the biggest between the two.

Sliding my gaze over to the silent traders, I breathed in once more and steeled my eyes.

_Well, at least it got the crowd silent. _I tried to reason with myself, ignoring the voice that snidely remarked; _while risking the safety of the town as well._

"If I could have every one's attention, please?" The people shifted silently as they brought their gaze to the center fountain. Immediately my palms began to sweat up as I felt the stares of dozens of pairs of eyes. I glanced barely to the side where Team 7 stood, and gave the briefest of smiles when Rin smiled encouragingly as Obito pulled two thumbs up.

"O-Okay." I winced mentally at the soft, unsure voice that came out of my mouth. _Breathe girl, in and out, in and out. _Clenching my fists, away from the public's view, I clamped down savagely on my nervousness and locked it away. Ignoring the confused stares of the townspeople, I called out in a louder, clear voice. "First, I would like to apologize for the startle and the delay. Now, I would like for all of you to separate into groups, depending on which country you are travelling to – for those of you travelling to Wind Country, please gather over here."

And so the day passed on in accordance to that. After a few hours of directing each group and checking over the supplies with each merchant that headed a travelling group (some of who were family members), it became surprisingly easy to look over the trading exports.

By the time the last trading caravan had left for Grass, it was late and exhaustion had long since seeped through my bones, even though I refused to show it on my face. Instead I gave a low bow (_for those you are thankful towards_, a voice whispered in my head) to the members of Team 7 and offered them another night's stay at the compound. They all agreed in relief – as it was forty minutes till midnight when we had finished reviewing the sent goods – and the rest of my night passed on with Team 7, who two out of three insisted that I stayed with them for the night. And though I sighed and mentally shifted left and right in the awkwardness of company, I was not able to stop the smile that came when I listened Rin's giggles, Obito's loud cheers, and Kakashi's one-word grunts

It was… fun, I think.

And in the next morning when I waved goodbye once more to them, I couldn't help the thought in my heart that said:

_I wouldn't mind if they came back again._

~o~o~o~

And for the next few months, I settled into an unstable pattern of normalcy.

With the constant and collateral damages that came with war, Father was always busy with contacting traders, and trying to reach out to other towns and helping them as well.

(The Suzuki Clan was practically 'in charge' of all the trade routes, as almost half of the traders using the routes were family members).

That left Shikimura to the hands of the next person in charge, and that was Uncle Masaru.

…

(What, you thought that it was me?

…

Hah. Even Father knew the stupidity in leaving a whole town into a _five-year old's _hands).

But still, life was even busier, because even though Uncle Masaru was 'officially' in charge, I had to help out with a lot of the aspects in ruling a town.

_There were financial settlings, resident settlings, who had what job, medical health care, crime percentages, and taxes, taxes, and taxes._

_Did I also mention about taxes?_

We were also sending out missions for shinobi now to help with various problems, especially with ones involving protection for important clients – many traders were wary of riding through the routes without some sense of protection. Though strangely enough, these missions were always taken by a certain Team 7.

Not that I was complaining. Really.

_"Miu-hime! Nice to see you again, kiddo!" _

_"Good afternoon, hime, how was your day?"_

_"Hn."_

_"Obito-san, please put me down; though your enthusiasm is much appreciated, your twirling hug… thing is… not."_

And then the birth of my new brother arrived, bringing a whole new slather of complications.

_"Father?"_

_"Miu, I am in an important meeting; your questions must wait."_

_"But Father –"_

_"Leave, child. This is no time for child's play –"_

_"Father, Mother is giving birth now!"_

_Silence. _

_Father turned back quickly to the client, Sasada (who appeared greatly amused by this conversation) and apologized. If the client could wait till tomorrow for another meeting?_

_Thankfully, Sasada-san was kind enough to agree, and Father altogether rushed out of the room – still composed and blank-faced._

And _then_ there were also the nightly excursions with Death. If we weren't out collecting souls – _bloodbloodblood_ – then I was training with Death on how to handle Ueta Shishi properly.

_"I'm surprised." I gave a pause in my swings to glance at Death's blank, totally _not_ surprised face. _

_"Oh? Of what?" Casually sitting down on his fluffy chair, Death fiddled with a piece of his non-descriptive, brown hair and replied._

_"I did not expect you to wield Ueta Shishi so easily," And here I stopped altogether, listening carefully to Death's words. "Rarely do Apprentices ever wield a scythe – especially one that is as dangerous as yours."_

_I scowled briefly before blanking my face again. _

_"I did not choose this type of weapon, if I had the choice, I would have chosen the sword; I feel more comfortable with it." But the moment those words came out of my mouth, I regretted it instantly. They were lies, because no matter how much I practiced the sword, nothing felt more right than having Ueta in my hands; and the scythe in return hummed in response, as if knew exactly what I was thinking, and felt smug about it. _

_Death too knew that I was lying. But he left in alone and gestured lazily for me to go through another kata._

_"Whatever you say. But, I think you should know; that the Apprentice does not choose the weapon – if that was the case, then mishaps would happen all around the universe. No, the weapon chooses the Apprentice, simply because it knows who it belongs too."_

_I sighed briefly at Death's solemn words. _

_Should I feel proud that my weapon is the clear embodiment of death?_

And _thenthenthen, _my lessons involving my other studies took a great deal of time as well.

_"Hm. Your time for running around Shikimura Town is fourteen minutes and forty seconds; Mi-chan, clearly you are not trying hard enough. Come; let us try for four minutes in the next month!"_

_"F-Four minutes?" I wheezed out, face still blank. My body lay sprawled against the floor, and I had long since stopped caring about the state of my kimono. "The gods are out to get me."_

_"Kid, could you please stop the poking? I'm supposed to teach you about how to use chakra today, and I don't have much time to do it." I hesitantly nodded, but my fingers couldn't stop prodding Kushina-nee-chan's figure. Here, right in front of me, was a live _shadow clone_. _

_It felt like Kushina-nee-chan, it acted like her, sounded like her, but it wasn't her. The real Nee-chan was preparing and getting ready for the next battle; she would have no time to come over herself to teach me. _

_"Kushina-nee-chan, could you please teach me this jutsu?" Apparently, politely phrasing the question wasn't enough, as Kushina immediately bopped my head when it left my mouth. _

_"Absolutely not! Kid, not only is the shadow clone jutsu forbidden to learn, it's also extremely chakra consuming. Most can't even produce one properly before collapsing from exhaustion." I frowned at that. Then how come Naruto could create over a thousand and still fight like a rabid monkey?_

_I paused silently as my eyes began to widen when the answer came in the form of _Kyuubi_. _

_The brat probably had enough chakra to move the mountains, what was a thousand shadow clones in compare? _

_Glaring slightly at Kushina's flat stomach, I then slowly focused back to Kushina, who was still in a tirade over my slight. _

_"But what if I have enough chakra to make one?" I interrupted; it was rude for me to stop an elder when they were speaking, but I was eager to learn. _

_Kushina stopped in her rant and gave me a glare, before squinting hard at my figure._

_"Huh. Surprisingly enough, kid, you've got a lot of chakra for a five-year old – it's almost at mid-range Academy level." She narrowed her eyes in suspicion, as I faced her scrutiny with a blank face, even if I mentally squirmed in unease. "Have you been using chakra without anyone knowing?"_

_I rapidly shook my head. _

_"No." But then I thought back to all those days where I expended my spiritual energy to support the Eki, and the meditation that I went through once a week with Death. Hold on; wasn't chakra a mixture of both physical and spiritual energies? _

_Oh. _Oh.

_Fortunately enough, Kushina-nee-chan, bless her soul, decided not to comment on the flash of trepidation that probably had flashed through my face before in went back to its normal blankness. _

_"Well, kid, I guess you got lucky; having large chakra stores is common in the Uzumaki Clan, so I guess I'm not that surprised. Now let's see how well you can handle controlling it."_

_As pleased as I was to find that I had larger than average chakra stores, the satisfaction the came with knowing was quickly brought down when both Kushina and I found that my control over chakra was nil. Nada. _

_Basically, my control _sucked. _Badly. _

_Thus, this began the never-ending training with sticking leaves and walking on trees._

_Oh, woe is me._

And so, it was with this busy, hectic, but strangely calm pattern that the months passed on like a blur.

It shouldn't have been a shock when the important events of the story-line slipped my grasp – these people didn't feel like characters, anyway.

But that didn't mean I should have stopped paying attention.

_Idiot._

~o~o~o~

I ran as quickly as I could around the outskirts of Shikimura; today was April 4th, a busy day, apparently, as the village was running hectic in preparation for celebration.

For my _birthday. _

Shouldn't celebrating it once be enough?

Sigh.

Shaking my head quickly out of my thoughts, I sped through the trees and fast approached a now-familiar looking, withering shack. Waiting patiently for a good minute, I gave a smile as the sight of a grimy looking child tottered out of the door.

_Like clockwork,_ I thought in wry amusement. Sachiko always liked to do things on time.

"Psst." I whispered behind her back, and I couldn't stop the small grin of amusement as I watched the small girl jump and squeak in statement.

"Wha-wha, who are you?" Sachiko flung her arms above her face as she rapidly turned around, back and forth in fear. I smiled at her reaction before having some pity on the girl; stepping out from the shadows made by the sun's daylight, I gave a small wave as I kept my blank face on.

"Good morning, Sachiko-san." The girl widened her eyes till they looked like huge moons, and she stammered in surprise.

"M-Miu-hime!" And then she stopped, looking frantically behind her towards the shack before approaching me in relief. "Miu-hime, you cannot be here, it is not a proper place for a princess!"

I shrugged in response.

"You always say that, Sachiko-san; but as I have said multiple times before – I do not care."

Sachiko turned a deep red at that, and stammered out another response in thanks. And while I gave a small smile to reassure her of my firm beliefs, I silently assessed her and frowned in my head.

She was thinner than the last time I had seen her – which was a few weeks ago. The war was not kind; especially to those as desperate as her. During the many months – spanning over a year – that Uncle had me run around Shikimura town, I quickly had found a path to the shack that held the dozens of orphans that had not left my mind since my fourth birthday.

So, after four weeks of contemplating on what to do, I began to notice that Sachiko always, on the dot, came out for a morning wash at the nearby river at 8:45 in the morning. And after I had approached her for the first time (which ended, sadly, in both her and I falling into the river), we quickly became acquainted with each other.

And maybe we were even, well, _friends_.

There was just something about the girl, who was only four years older than me, that caused a dormant part of me _coo_ in delight.

Which was ridiculous, because I certainly did not _coo_ at anything. But coo I did, because the soft, shy, demeaning personality of Sachiko could simply not be ignored; it was demanding for my attention.

"And how are you doing?" I asked, eyeing the haggard appearance in her form and cursed once more at the age that I was at. Would you look at that: six and _still_ unable to help. But I dared not ask about her more important needs; it would be rude and cruel in a roundabout way – no, I could not ask.

Sachiko gave a weak smile at my question and looked out at a distance faraway.

"It's going great, Miu-hime; though Tetsuo-nii is still very harsh on us." I nodded grimly at that and allowed the girl a moment in peace. Tetsuo was the 'leader' of their group, the one who had cut me down with reality and sense; as the oldest, he was in charge of taking care of all the younger ones. He was strict, and sometimes cutthroat, but he was keeping all the orphans, _all_ of them, alive, and that was all I cared about.

Clearing my throat, I attempted to smile, only to feel my cheeks stiffen at the use; Sachiko simply giggled at my antics, and it was only then that I felt light enough to continue on.

"So, Sachiko-san, do you think you could stop by the celebration today?" Sachiko's face fell at my question, and I was quick to reassure her. "Don't worry, if you cannot, then that is perfectly okay; don't fret because of that."

The girl nodded in relief, but her eyes blinked rapidly with apology; I merely dismissed it as that.

There were more important things in this girl's life than a birthday party.

Glancing above at the rising sun in the sky, I braced myself and held my arms out awkwardly in question. Giggling at my face that was still blank, Sachiko quickly came over and embraced me for a brief second before letting go.

"Thank you, Miu-hime, I needed that a lot." I nodded silently and focused on Sachiko's brilliant, brilliant eyes instead of her gaunt, wasting face.

"Of course." And before I could regret it, I opened my mouth and winced mentally as I let the next words slip. "Anytime."

Now outright laughing, Sachiko gave a wave in farewell; it was long past the time to return.

"Oh! Miu-hime! Before I forget!" I stopped briefly in my tracks and turned around in question. Wringing her hands around nervously, Sachiko took a deep breath in and added in a softer voice. "Tetsuo-san says that he will think about your offer: we are all getting desperate, and soon, we will have no choice but to cooperate with you."

Sachiko said all of this in a solemn, angry way that fit right in with the orphans' leader. I nodded briskly at her words and waved a farewell.

_Soon, I promise. Soon, the winds will blow, and no longer will they whip against your face; I'll make sure they make you soar. _

It wasn't much, but what I was offering was good enough to help them all - and that was all that mattered.

_I will never break my promises_.

~o~o~o~

I blinked rapidly in surprise.

Huh. What were they doing here?

"Good morning, my lovely hime!" I braced myself as the feeling of physical contact surrounded me. Glaring briefly at the loss of the ground beneath my feet, I nodded in greeting towards the exuberant Uchiha.

"Hello, Obito-san," Again, I ignored the boy's insistence on calling him just 'Obito,' and turned my head slightly to greet the other two members of Team 7. "Good morning, Rin-san, Kakashi-san."

The medic of the team giggled lightly at my begrudged face and grinned brightly in response.

"Good morning, Miu-hime!" Kakashi, however, simply gave a nod and grunted,

"Hn." Sighing inwardly at the typical greetings the team always seemed to give, I gave Obito a pointed stare, to which he smiled sheepishly and gently dropped me down.

"And what, may I ask, brings you all to Shikimura today?" I mentally skimmed over the plans for the town – Konoha would not receive the next mission request till four days from now, so why were they here?

"Well, there was this old woman who told us about a wonderful celebration that was happening here today in thanks to me for helping her out with the groceries." I blinked slowly. Weird. This was the first time I've ever heard the famous excuses from the even more infamous Uchiha.

"We can't stay long, unfortunately," Rin added over the excited chatter that Obito was spouting, and gave her own apologetic smile. "But we were given permission to travel here to give our congratulations."

"Did you hear that, hime? It's your birthday today!" Obito asked in a proud way. I blinked and gazed around at the floating lights hanging everywhere, the bustling crowds and the festival cheer that suspiciously sounded like my name.

_No, I certainly did _not _hear that. Really? It's my birthday today? _

Side stepping over to avoid Obito hands that were twitching to twirl me again in the air, I gave a proper bow in thanks.

"Thank you, then, for your consideration." Kakashi snorted at my blank face and crossed his arms.

"Whatever, it's not like we actually wanted to come here – Hokage-sama told us to." And before I could respond to this interesting piece of information, Rin was already scolding Kakashi for his tactlessness.

"Kakashi-kun! That's not what you say to a girl! Be nice!" Kakashi shrugged in return. "Besides, you were the one to suggest coming here to the Hokage first."

Here, Kakashi sputtered unintelligently.

"What? No I did _not_!" He watched me warily as I processed this with a blank face, and stepped back when I nodded in acceptance.

"Do not worry, Kakashi-san," I reassured him, with a completely blank face, ignoring the snickering teammates behind me. "You secret is safe with me."

And once more, Kakashi twitched and denied having any sort of intervention with the visit.

Instead, he roughly pulled out a box from his shinobi pouch and shoved in unceremoniously into my hands.

"Here," He gruffly stated, as I stared at the box in concealed wonder. "Happy Birthday."

"It's from all of us, we pitched in together to buy it for you!" Rin chimed in, leaving a still snickering Obito rolling on the floor.

...

Screw the 'ceremony of opening presents,' I'm opening up this baby now.

And soon, in my palms, lay a silver ring, with the Suzuki Clan's insignia on it. Blue clouds that swirled into sets of intricate threes engraved themselves on the ring, and I stared at the pretty jewelry in surprise.

I was never one for jewelry, but this ring was simple and absolutely breathtaking; I blinked in surprise when it somehow seemed to find its way on my finger.

How were they able to…?

"Well, actually, Kushina-nee kind of helped out as well," Obito admitted after pulling himself up from the floor. "She was the one who contacted a blacksmith – a Suzuki, actually – but we designed it and paid for it. "

"Kushina-san sends her love, by the way," Rin added in with a bright smile. "She also says sorry for not being here; she is very busy with the war and all."

I nodded in understanding as I gave a moment to simply stare at the ring in wonder.

I received dozens of birthday presents a year, and each were wonderful in their own way, but this one was – felt, like it was already held dearly in my heart.

But I schooled on a blank expression, and gave the team the lowest bow I could give without scandalizing the rest of the townspeople. It was the least I could do to thank them.

And for the next forty minutes, I spent my time with the team in contentment, as I listened silently to Rin's medical knowledge, and conversed quietly with Kakashi.

With Obito, it was like talking with a radio – he was always switching topics.

"Oh by the way, how's your sibling, Fuuta isn't it? I'm sure he'll be as awesome as you, hime!"

"Me? Well, I've got a younger brother – a cousin, actually, his name's Itachi – and he's turning four this June. You guys should meet each other; it would be great! You guys would become best friends and he's a total gentleman so don't worr -"

"Also, by the way, hime," Rin interrupted before Obito could go off into a rant about his amazing Itachi, while I simply tried to shove the image of a gentlemanly toddler Itachi into the back of my head. "We also came to tell you that it will be hard to take missions from now on for the time being."

Seeing my tilted head as a question, she continued to explain.

"Actually, Kakashi-kun has the jonin exams in a few weeks – and our sensei wants to give him enough time to train. So we plan on not receiving any missions for a month or two."

And though I nodded my head in understanding, inside, alarm bells were ringing like crazy. Seagulls were crying, gongs were ringing, bells were chiming, and the fire drill rang.

_This was important._

But, for the death of me, I could not remember what, or why, it was.

~o~o~o~

But, just in case, I sent out three packages of soldier pills in advance to the three, immediately after I heard of Kakashi's passing. It was expensive, but it was worth it if it would make this churning sensation in my stomach go away.

I took in a deep breath and frowned at the atmosphere surrounding the area.

Why did the air feel like death?

~o~o~o~

Breathing heavily, I leaned against the side of Ueta's staff and looked down at the battlefield.

_Great Kami, this man is going through these shinobi like they're melted cheese. _

Wincing slightly at the decapitated bodies that seemed to drop to ground in a heap, I tried to focus on the rapid movement of Namikaze Minato – and epically failed at attempting to do so.

The man was _fast_. He teleported from place to place like there was no tomorrow, and everywhere he touched, shinobi seemed to die in an instant.

Huh. No wonder there was a 'flee on sight' order for the other countries. Namikaze was a _beast_.

I watched, entranced as the man popped up in one place, only to disappear and reappear in another. While I knew that the Hiraishin used special seals, I wasn't able to admire the true work of a seals master until now.

_Truly remarkable._

But that awe was short-lived as I was suddenly reminded again of the reason _why_ I hated following the future Fourth Hokage to battle.

Gripping Ueta Shishi tightly, I contorted through the massive crowd of shinobi souls, all confused at their sudden death. Taking advantage of their confusion and terror, I quickly swiped through rows of shinobi, slicing through their necks easily before moving on to the next one.

I took a moment's breath to pause in my work to look down (while trying hard not to focus on the deaddeaddead bodies) and noticed with slight annoyance that the man was not slowing down in the slightest.

… In fact, it looked like he was speeding up.

Groaning once more, I lifted Ueta up to deflect a thrown kunai and sped towards the wide-eyed thrower; a boy who looked as if he hadn't gone past the stage of _knowing_ what 'puberty' was. Wincing slightly, I gave a soft apology even as I brought Ueta's blade down his chest.

Kami, _what_ were these Kages thinking, bringing _children_ down to the war?

And so an hour passed with me constantly swiping and reflecting and ducking – if I crossed paths with an aware jonin, or heck, even a chūnin, I made sure to bring with me at least six other Eki. My experience could not hold a candle to the flame of theirs.

But only four minutes had passed from the hour mark before I felt a slight tugging. Swiping across the neck of a chūnin from Iwagakure, I turned and blinked in surprise when the hooded figure of an Eki gestured frantically in another direction.

I frowned. Eki were normally very calm creatures; their quiet dispositions were perfect for soul collecting, and rarely would anything cause them such agitation.

So whatever had this Eki so worked up had some importance, it was not of their usual behavior to act like this. Glancing at the thinning out army below – thanks to a certain blonde monster, who I noticed, was suddenly gone – I summoned another platoon of Eki, and after shaking my head from the sudden loss of spiritual energy, waved for the single Eki to lead.

Leaving the rest to take care of the remaining souls, I gripped Ueta ShiShi's staff tightly as the familiar dread that had churned in my stomach for the past four weeks finally crept up again.

What was going on?

~o~o~o~

The moment I entered the area, I knew something was not right. The Eki that had leaded me here glided over to the side to join its other two comrades, who were nervously capturing the last of the Iwa ninja.

I frowned openly at the site below me.

It was a brutal scene, the dust and rocks covered the clearing, and over to the side there was a rock cavern that looked as if it had caved in just recently. Bodies of ninja littered the floor, and once again, the smell of harsh blood spilled into the spiritual world.

Pause.

Wait.

I blinked in remembrance as my memory flashed at the sight of the fallen rocks.

_This… This is the place where Obito died. _

A sudden ache dragged into my chest, and the world seemed to spin like all those times where the Uchiha had twirled me around in the air before giving me a hug. And I, in my stupidity, all I could think of at that moment was,

_Oh. Oh. So that's it. Oh. That's why... Was this why death had always constantly filled the air?_

And I nearly sighed in relief as my chest settled into an uncomfortable position as something else that felt terrible brought a burning into my eyes. But outside, I simply twirled Ueta Shishi and slammed the end of its staff to the ground. Gathering up my wits, I stood firm, my stance ready and ready to convince Obito's soul to travel to the afterlife; it was least I could do for him, instead of jabbing Ueta's blade through his neck. And then maybe we could have a long talk about many things. Like his cousin, Itachi, or his obvious crush on Rin.

And I waited, waited for four minutes, then eight, then twelve, then twenty-four, all the while with the Eki who seemed ready to bolt, but refused to leave a commander by herself.

But Obito's soul never came.

_What?_

I couldn't have missed it – Obito had died just mere minutes before I had arrived, there was no time for him to run away, or for the Eki to capture him, as they were too occupied with the remaining Iwa ninja.

But that didn't explain why he wasn't here, in the spiritual plane, where all souls existed and entered.

_Something is wrong._

I looked over to the now-panicking Eki; they were flailing all over the place, and I sent a boost of spiritual energy to calm the down. Within seconds they relaxed as the new, fresh energy filled their beings, but I could still see them fidgeting, wanting to flee at the scene of something _wrong._

And if I concentrated over to the cavern of fallen rocks, I could feel what the Eki were so strongly feeling now, as they were more in tuned to Death's matters then I was.

But at that moment, I could feel what they felt. And it was _wrong_.

_Wrongwrongwrong, it was wrong, this is wrong, wrongwrongwrong._

This was not death, this was something else.

Snapping my fingers, I gripped Ueta Shishi impatiently as a book materialized in front of me; the Book of Deaths.

Here, I could see the list of the living and deceased, when and how they died and much more.

The book was only used when it was necessary; when things were going to hell and shit was about to go down.

Ripping off the seal that kept the book closed, I opened it to the 'U' section, and skimmed over the list of many Uchiha names.

"Uchiha Fugaku, Uchiha Inabi, Uchiha Izuna, Uchiha, Uchiha, and Uchiha – ah, here it is. Uchiha Obito."

And then I froze; the dread from before curling in and settling into my stomach with its barbed wires and cold sweat.

When a mortal died, a straight line crossed their names out in black, indicating that they held the status of deceased, and where their soul would be taken to.

It was how the Eki knew when to come in, and where they were to send the souls.

But there, in all its glory, stood Obito's name, clear of any black marks. Instead, a blood-red blotch seemed to filter on to his name, staining the page with crimson.

_SLAM. _

I slammed the book shut, refusing to see anymore. I had more than enough information. Obito's death was today - but it never happened.

What is going on?

Stepping away from the mass of rocks (that screamed _wrongwrongwrong_), I took in a shaky breath and motioned for the Eki to come.

Keeping my head straight, I gave an order in the firmest tone I could muster.

"Get Death over here. _Now._"

The Eki were only too happy to obey.

And in my head, where thoughts swirled around like a tornado of winds, I could only hope desperately that there was a misunderstanding – a mistake or a malfunction in the upper gods system.

But I knew in my heart that it wasn't.

_Someone has broken the balance; Obito's death did not occur, the death that the gods themselves had authorized and decreed._

_And now, if Obito's soul is not returned, his soul will take the crime that even death cannot escape._

-o-o-o-o-o-

* * *

**So, just to clear up the time line:**

**- Miu was first kidnapped in December when she was four.**

**- Death finally came to visit her around four weeks later, in around February.**

**- The Shinobi War does not start till four weeks after Miu's fifth birthday.**

**- Suzuki Fuuta was born in mid-September.**

**Well, I think that's all; I hope you all have enjoyed really this super long chapter - it kept on growing till there was no tomorrow.**

**(Apologies for the lack of orphan impact here; they'll be gradually incorporated into this story).**

**So, thoughts?**

**Regards,**

**Searching. For. Enadi.**


	7. A Frustrating Day Indeed

Hi, lovelies!

First, my sincerest apologies for such a late update; there was a huge clear out of my files because of a virus, and then writer's block finally reared its head at me.

Thankfully enough, I got through it. Your encouragement has helped me a lot throughout these past few months, and I hope this chapter has helped to clear some things.

(And also, I would like to give a quick shout out to my friend, **Sethera,** whose far-fetched ideas/plots gave birth to... whatever the hell is down below).

(Also, if some elements of anything in this story seem familiar; that's 'cause it probably is. Long ago, long before you and I were born, I had asked the lovely **Silver Queen** for permission to use some of the elements of the Naruto world from her story, _Dreaming of Sunshine. _She said yes, thankfully enough, and if you haven't read her story - which is like the mother of all SI, then you should go. Now. Or after reading this chapter. Whichever fits you most).

And as a **WARNING: **I have taken much advantage over the 'supernatural' means of the Naruto world. Be prepared for a full blast of AU.

Oh, and I wrote an omake after the chapter as an apology - I hope you all enjoy.

* * *

**Disclaimer: **Oh how I wish...

* * *

_Chapter VII: A Frustrating Day Indeed_

When a person is born, there is a certain seal on his or her fate.

The time of birth, the time of death, and a sprinkle of what happens in between becomes finalized and recorded on a piece of 'spiritual paper,' and then the system moves on to the next mortal being.

It's called the 'gods system' and nothing can break it.

Call it fate, call it destiny (Death likes to call it the gods' entertainment), but it's an inevitable thing that all mortals will go through at the end of their lives.

Death is everywhere, and his grasp is like a closed-off net that you cannot escape.

It's a matter of when that's the problem.

Always the problem.

(You can run from death, but you can't hide).

~o~o~o~

So, sometimes, when the air is still and the world is quiet, I tend to think of things beyond what is necessary.

Like, such as, why me? What is it about me that's so special, so better than the rest that I was _chosen_ as Death's Apprentice?

I'd be lying if I said that I thought of myself as normal. There had always been a part of me, a part buried so deep that I didn't even know if it was _me_ that longed for the 'strange' and 'supernatural.'

It was every child's fantasy dream.

I guess that's why I didn't throw much of a fit and complain too much when Death dragged me off as his Apprentice. Because I _wanted_ to become that special person, to change into a 'strange' and 'supernatural.'

It's just too bad that I hadn't realized how much it would take to _be_ that person. The supernatural follow rules that are beyond the realm of mortals; immortals see the word far differently than us, and it wasn't till Obito's supposed death that I realized how far deep I was in a world that I, frankly speaking, shouldn't be in.

And by then, it was far too late to back out.

~o~o~o~

"…Put up level six barriers around the area; I want nothing going in or out-"

"- File a report for Shinigami-sama to read later on; this situation is far too delicate –"

"- Miu, what are you doing?"

My shoulders stiffened but my head refused to move, staying firmly faced towards the ground. The physical plane was still; the bodies of the fallen Iwa-nin collected and removed, with only drying blood left to remind me of what _didn't _happen.

_Obito, where are you?_

It was strange.

I knew of Obito's death; it was a memory that had bounced and fluttered in the deepest crevices of my mind, but it was _there_. Memories of my earlier life were already beginning to fade, but they were still _there_ and, after a few more years, I probably would have to let them go.

But this, this was different.

After the shock of Obito's disappearance faded away, all that was left was a spreading numbness that left my face completely blank.

_I should have known._ I should have known that this was going to happen. Obito's 'death' was reasonable; forgetting facts from a past that was no longer mine was understandable. But his disappearance? Vanishing when the gods themselves decreed differently?

There was a blank hole in my mind, and till now, I didn't even realize.

I stared intensely at the fallen rocks below me. Clenching tightly on Ueta Shishi's staff that laid beside me, I blinked rapidly as Death's dark robes filled my peripheral vision.

"Death," I paused as I forcibly had to push down on the growing lump in my throat. "Death, have you been tampering with my memories?"

My fists tightened even further when the entity didn't even shift.

"Yes." It was an honest answer, and I didn't know whether to laugh or rage at the strangeness of it all.

_Why? I could have prevented this, I could have done something! _

(I suppose, in all actuality, I should have instead questioned _how_ and _why _Death was able to do it).

It wasn't until Death had reached down to lift my head did I find traitorous tears leaking silently from my eyes.

"There was nothing you could have done," Death firmly stated, as if he had read my mind. His face was entirely too blurry for my eyes to see, but blankly I noted that there was something red growing underneath his chin and around his neck.

_Huh. That wasn't there before._

"Information was withheld from you because you had too much to begin with; your knowledge of this situation would have done nothing to affect the outcome, if not make it worse."

His hand let go of my chin and quickly, I wiped away the remaining tears from my eyes.

"But this?" Death paused to look towards the silently working Eki; some were placing seals around the fallen cavern while others were chattering silently among themselves.

"…This was not what we had expected." He replied after what seemed like eternity. It was clear in the 'we' that neither Death nor Shinigami were expecting this to happen.

It wasn't that hard to discern the slight fury laced behind Death's words either.

"Though the energy surrounding the area _is _familiar," Death mused as I numbly handed Ueta over to an offering Eki. "It seems like an old acquaintance has returned from his 'hiding' place."

Death paused before frowning slightly.

"He has been running from me for some time now."

I nodded in thanks to the returning Eki, who handed the unloaded Ueta back to me. Staring blankly at the rising sun that was already high above in the sky, I faced Death's turned back with a blank face and raging eyes.

The question, _who was it? _- went unsaid, because I highly doubted a lowly Apprentice like me was privy to such information.

Hence, why they removed it from me in the first place.

(The next question to wonder was, if they gods had access to my memories, why didn't they do something about this?

Stealing away a soul when its time was due was a highly offensive crime – even if it stolen for only a few moments

…Though I supposed, perhaps this problem simply was still not big enough to attract the attention of the higher-ups.

Yet).

"…When will you return my memories to me?" I asked quietly instead, the feeling of frustration and emptiness already bubbling inside my chest, but my face remained completely blank.

Death shifted slightly but did not turn around to face me.

"One day. When the higher-ups believe you can handle it."

Meaning, '_when the gods finish playing.'_

What happened to, 'oh, your memories will return to you when your brain is ready?'

Barely taking note again of the curling red designs growing around Death's exposed neck, I slammed Ueta Shishi's staff into the ground and, with a little spiritual push, sent it back down to the Underworld.

Moments later, I left the spiritual plane in disgust, forcibly ejecting my soul from the plane before my energy exploded in response to my raging emotions.

~o~o~o~

_Crack!_

I winced, landing unsteadily back on the floor. Shaking my head rapidly from the loss of energy, I reached over my arm and plucked out the first of many splinters embedded in it.

"Too much," I paused before tugging even harder at a certain splinter that stuck itself too deep into my skin. Glancing blankly at the nearly demolished tree in front of me, I turned around to look at the sight of a frowning Kushina. "Kid, your chakra control is shit."

"…I know." It showed how much time I'd spent with Kushina when the only reaction I gave to her careless cursing was a blank stare. The woman sighed in return and reached over to grab my arm; in a moment all the splinters disappeared from my person.

I blinked but said nothing.

"Kid, we've been going about this for at least a week; there's hardly been any improvement," A familiar warmth seemed to flood my cheeks before I forcibly slammed it down. "I've talked to Minato about it – he's better at chakra theory than, well, everybody – and he suggested that it might be due to an imbalance in your chakra."

"An imbalance?" I asked as we moved on to another tree – the other was far too damaged for any further use.

"Mm. Tell me, how do you feel when you try to grasp your chakra?"

"Well," I hesitated slightly before answering her question. "It feels like I'm grabbing mist. It looks like something is there, but every time I reach for it; it almost always slips through my fingers."

Kushina nodded in silence, grabbing a long stick before squatting down on the floor.

"Look here, kid," I crouched down beside her, watching as she drew a circle before and dividing it in half. "Chakra is a mixture between physical and spiritual energy; you could call in yin and yang, if you want."

Here, she colored in one side, then, after smoothing out the line that divided the two halves, she colored in some more, leaving three-quarters of the circle ragged with upturned sand and dirt.

"What Minato thinks is that there's too much imbalance. Whether it's because you have too much spiritual energy, or too much physical energy doesn't matter; you just have too much of one side and not enough of another. Though, personally speaking, I think your problem is the former; 'cause face it, kid, you're as skinny as a stick, there's no way your physical energy is the overpowering cause for the imbalance."

"And how can I fix this…imbalance?" I asked, ignoring the unnecessary jab at my nonexistent weight. The feral grin Kushina gave in response was frightening enough to send a shiver through my spine.

(Inwardly, I sighed at my stupidity for relying on meditation; I should have realized that my child-like body was not strong enough to support my spiritual energy's growing reserves).

"Why, kid, I thought you'd never ask!" Kushina's wild grin seemed to grow impossibly wider as she hoisted up my body with no trouble at all. "For starters, you can practice some of the basic kata forms I'll be showing you. Then we – well, it'll just be you – can climb up and down at least forty trees. After that – "

"Nee-chan, I've already started learning swordsmanship from Uncle Masaru; there's really no need for me to do more." I interrupted my aunt's frightening tirade with a shaky voice; my blank face already broken after hearing Kushina's training regimen and I knew that there was pure, innocent fear shining through my eyes.

Clearly, Kushina-nee-chan brought the best out of me.

But Kushina merely waved a hand before asking – in a rather eager way, I may add –

"Yes, but then why is your control so bad?"

I couldn't say anything to that.

"Now, let's go through some basic forms of Academy taijutsu first…"

(Briefly, just briefly, I considered hitting Kushina and popping her shadow clone, but then I threw that thought out of the proverbial window because there were so many _wrongs _involving that idea.

Could I land a solid hit on a completely aware and alert jonin? No.

Could I hit an elder, especially an elder I was _related _to? Uh, no.

Could I possibly have a _death_ wish secretly growing inside of me? Ahahaha - _No._

…

And I suppose, I also wanted to improve my control; it was horrendous to even look at, but that _wasn't the point_).

…

Sigh.

~o~o~o~

Left, right, up, right, lift.

Down, right, lift.

Down, slant left, lift.

"Left, right, up, right, lift…" I murmured distantly, gripping the brush in my right hand steadily before slowly painting the kanji for four.

Down, right, lift.

Down, slant left, lift.

_Left, right, up, right – Why haven't they contacted me yet?_

For a single moment, I froze at the question that suddenly sprang into my head. Really, why hadn't Team 7 contacted me yet about Obito's 'death?' Were they busy, or were they too scared, or did they forget about me –

I lifted my brush off the paper mid-stroke and sucked in a deep breath.

_Steady._ I reminded myself before focusing on the sets of kanji in front of me. Studying under Kushina's tutelage definitely brought some benefits, even if she wasn't… the sanest teacher. Calligraphy was slowing becoming as easy as breathing day by day, and just for a moment on my sixth birthday, I thought that I had finished learning the necessary components for seals.

Ohohoho, words cannot describe how _wrong_ I was.

"Left, right, across." I muttered distractedly as my right hand continued to steadily draw the kanji for fire. Writing five sets of the same character ten times, I sighed and gently placed my brush to the side. Lifting the sheet of paper to the light, I squinted briefly before sliding it over to the growing pile to my right.

Dragging out another blank sheet, I smoothed out the creases of the paper and began to studiously draw another set of kanji.

The Japanese language was _hard._ Forget the basic katakana and hiragana, which were hard enough to memorize and follow, but seals unfortunately enough, were all about _kanji. _

Oh kanji. How I hate and adore you so.

At least a thousand simple characters needed memorization if you wanted to read as a barely literate child.

But as a seals master? You needed to practically be a _scholar_ if you wanted to create your own seals. Some kanji looked the same but had different meanings, or they looked different but sounded the same, while others looked _and _sounded the same, but it all depended on the way you used it in context.

Kami, compared to this, the English language was a _blessing_.

Granted, hiragana and katakana were not as hard to follow as kanji, but there were so many subtle differences between each character and if you made a single mistake, well, misunderstandings would be the least of your problems.

This was why Father, while not a seals master, was a master at calligraphy, and was quite adamant that I learned to at least _write _correctly. I long since stopped counting the number times he reminded me of the thousands of traders that perished due to a kanji mistake in a diplomatic letter or some other form of message.

_Done._ Placing the sheet on top of the pile, I allowed my guard to drop for a moment to let out a small yawn.

Mastering calligraphy itself wasn't too hard: if you had enough time that is. Drawing each character carefully took time if your arm wasn't quite used to the motions, which was why Kushina had ordered me to write out at least a hundred sets of different kanji every day, without fail.

The fruits of my labor were only beginning to show now, after two years of following her instructions, but that didn't stop the order that she had issued years ago. All kanji, basics or not, required religious practice every day.

Speaking of which –

_Why didn't Kushina tell me about Obito's death?_

Granted, I _knew _that Obito was still alive (where exactly was the problem, 'cause even Death didn't know and wasn't that a disaster because that meant Obito wasn't in this _world_) but it would have been, well, _nice _if someone had bothered to tell me.

_Unless, _a traitorous voice whispered in my head, _you're not important enough for that information. You were just a client; someone who paid them to do a job – who are you to know whether a shinobi has died or not?_

That was one of things I hated about this world. Information was golden and hardly ever shared, and my gods, the politics of this world. Saturated to the brim with subtleness, there were politics and hidden motives behind every single saccharine smile.

As the heiress to a prominent merchant clan, I probably _would _have been privy to the information if I asked, or demanded. There were a good amount Suzuki Clan members residing in Konoha at the moment, so we held a lot of the village's economy together.

But there was also the problem of still being a child, and Father definitely would not allow any contact with the Third Hokage for any reason other than business opportunities.

I let out a brief sigh as I cleared out another piece of paper and smoothed out a new one.

(Wasting paper? Nonsense. Trees filled the Land of Fire to the brim and it wasn't as if the Suzuki Clan couldn't _afford it - _)

_Be reasonable._ I reminded myself while quickly writing the character sets for horse, boar, and cow. When I would ever use these kanji for seals were beyond me, but rules were rules.

_Team 7 is probably still grieving - it's only been four days since Obito's 'death'; Kushina probably thinks I'm too young to know; time must pass and you _need _to have patience._

I grimaced for a brief second before smoothing out my face and focusing on the small mistake in the bottom part of 'cow.'

Damn. I painted right instead of down.

Shifting slightly in frustration, I painted the same character multiple times before feeling satisfied with the motions.

_Otherwise, you might just drive yourself insane from waiting. _

~o~o~o~

"Eeeeeyah!"

I stayed stock still, my face completely blank; with my left hand clutching Father's most recent lesson plans and the other awkwardly holding onto… this.

"Well, Miu?" Mother asked, sitting only a foot or two across from me, with a bemused voice and a slightly intimidating smile. "Should you not greet your new brother? You haven't visited him once since his birth; you've been quite busy, haven't you?."

_Was this retaliation for not visiting… this for only a few months? _I asked myself silently, bemoaning the rarely seen sadistic side of Mother's personality. _I was busy... I really was!_

Placing Father's lesson plans to the side, I gently removed the drooling infant from my shoulder and tried (while failing twice) to place him awkwardly in my arms.

The result felt like a stretching exercise for my arms; the crook of my left elbow was where his back was and after much hesitation, I followed Mother's instructions to support the baby's neck by holding his head with my right hand.

"Hello… Fuuta," I greeted at the staring – and slightly blubbering – infant with no small amount of hesitation, my face still completely blank as I tried in vain to look away from the _look _he was giving me. It was as if his tiny green eyes were accusing me of abandoning him to the wolves which was _bad _because wasn't I his sister? Shouldn't I protect him from the big, bad world because I was his _sister_?

…

Kami, help me now.

"I'm Miu, you're sister." I instead stated, feeling only a little foolish for introducing myself to a wide-eyed baby who couldn't even sit up properly, let alone understand the Japanese language.

Fuuta in return squinted slightly before beaming and clapping his hands in delight.

"Kyaaa!"

The servants hanging closely to the side twittered at the _cuteness_ of it all.

I froze to a complete stop as he became suddenly fixated at my head before trying to grab at my shoulder-length red hair. Silently, I gave Mother a desperate look through my eyes.

_Help. Please. _

Mother only took pity when Fuuta successfully caught a strand and was just beginning to gnaw on it, smoothly taking him away from my burning arms and holding him expertly with experience that only a mother could have.

"Well, I suppose that's enough excitement for the day!" Mother cheerfully stated, as the servants pouted and sighed while I slouched briefly in relief and exhaustion. "Maya-san, I don't suppose you could watch over the little one for just a bit?"

Said servant shot up like a rocket and practically danced over to Mother.

"Of course, Suzuki-sama!" The woman bobbed her head rapidly as both she and Mother collectively ignored the whines and envious looks that the other women gave.

And where was I in this whole fiasco?

Why, I was already half way to my room – I had escaped long ago; there was only so much of… this... I could handle in one go.

~o~o~o~

"Knees wide apart! Don't forget, a strong foundation is your first priority!"

"Hai."

_Clang! _

Barely holding back a wince, I widened my stance and grit my teeth. Holding the katana in my left hand up to block the blow aimed for my head, I gripped the handle with my right to support the immense weight that was crashing down.

But before I could blink, the weight was gone, leaving me to almost stumble at the sudden loss of weight.

_Whoosh!_

It was only thanks to years of dodging Death's knives and Kushina's punches that had me duck purely out of instinct; the gleaming blade of Uncle Masaru's katana barely missing me by a few centimeters.

_Kami, Uncle, you almost killed me! _

(I didn't even want to think about what would happen if I actually died a second time; living in this world was a _trial _in the eyes of the supernatural, and if I failed by dying prematurely… Well, I certainly wasn't going to get a _third _chance).

After a few more minutes of trading blows (more like dodging like hell), Uncle Masaru finally ended our impromptu spar with another heavy blow at my head, followed by a spontaneous kick to my side, sending me flying across the clearing and landing on the dirt floor with a wince.

"Hm. It seems that for all the katas you have learned, it is quite hard for you to apply them to an actual spar, Mi-chan," Uncle then gave me a few pointers to help my… many problems before murmuring again to the side. "Strange, I had no trouble doing it my first time around…"

I let out a sigh through my nostrils, my body still sprawled out on the floor while I, for once, ignored Father's lectures of keeping up appearance for a few moments of rest. To the side, servants bustled about, walking rapidly back and forth in the hallways in preparation for Father's departure to visit another town.

A warm breeze wafted through the trees around us as I tried to relax my tired muscles against the warm earth.

_I apologize for not being a sword prodigy like you, Uncle. Why not you come back in a few days; maybe by then I'll be completely ready to kick your butt?_

"Mi-chan."

I groaned inwardly for a moment before forcing my body to sit up into a proper place. Taking the practice katana Uncle had lent to me a few weeks ago from his hands, I raised a single eyebrow at the excited gleam in Uncle's eyes.

No. Please, no.

"Mi-chan, I've thought about it for a long time-" _Lies! You probably just thought of this now! _"- and I think that the best way to help your… hesitation is to have spars as quickly and randomly as possible."

My face stayed impassively blank as I tried to make sense of Uncle's words; his face was glowing with pride and I tried not to wince as he patted me gently on the back.

"I've talked it over with Shou-kun, and he agrees with me as well. The number of kidnappings has decreased with the war, Mi-chan, but with the birth of Fuuta-kun, it will probably multiply as he is only just a baby. As his sister, it is your responsibility along with the compound's to keep him safe."

I frowned at this before nodding slightly. Fine. If it's for Fuuta, I'll bear with it.

"So, from now on, I will be attacking you at random points of the day, inside and out of the compound. It is your duty to protect yourself; if you gain injuries in the process, it is nobody's fault except your own."

I quietly agreed.

"Yes, Uncle."

Uncle paused for a moment, as if he was unsure how to break the next bit of news to me.

"I also contacted Kushina-san for some help as well; she agreed immediately, surprisingly enough. You would think that as a shinobi, she would be very busy… She seemed very enthusiastic about it…"

Oh.

_Oh._

"_Uncle…"_

"Ah…" Uncle Masaru looked away from my completely blank face with a far-too-bright grin and turned around to greet Father, who had entered the training grounds not too long ago, with an unsurprised grin. "Shou-kun! What brings you here to these grounds?"

Father chose to simply nod at Uncle before focusing his gaze on me. My back straightened immediately as I lowered my head as a greeting.

"Good afternoon, Father." I distantly murmured, staying low for a few moments before raising my head to meet his gaze.

"Miu," Father responded in return, and beckoned me closer. "Come. Quickly clean yourself up and prepare yourself."

I quickly, but steadily rose to my feet, ignoring the creaks and protests my knees gave me before silently walking over to Father's side.

Giving a quick bow in thanks to Uncle Masaru (who simply waved and gave a warm smile) I followed Father back in to the compound with the slightest bit of trepidation.

Was Father taking me with him for his trip?

That alone would have been quite alright; Father has taken me to other towns for a quick visit before, where I would simply courteously greet the leader of said town, and then Father would take over from there.

But Father's trip tomorrow planned for a longer distance than usual – thus, why all the servants were in a frenzy to prepare everything to perfection.

Because tomorrow, Father was going to visit the daimyo.

(Of course, he's visited the man before, but all those other times were without, well, _me_).

"Have the maids ready the best kimono for you to wear tomorrow, Miu. You shall be coming with me to visit Damiyo-sama; he is eager to meet the next heir of the Clan." Father said, walking smoothly across the padded boards of the compound floor, pretending to not notice when I, in response to Father's confirmation to my thoughts, stumbled briefly before righting myself.

"Of course, Father."

_Oh, what a busy life I live. _

I let out a silent sigh as a number of female servants ushered me into a fitting room; I stared briefly at the colorful assortment of kimonos before allowing myself the bend to my fate.

Women, I realized, were best left alone when it came to clothing.

_Surely it cannot get any busier than this._

~o~o~o~

"I found where your friend – Obito, right? - is."

…

_I hate jinxing myself._

I sighed briefly as I used the end of Ueta Shishi's blade to deflect Death's flying daggers while using the end of the staff to jab killing blows at the number of Eki surrounding me.

"Death, couldn't you have dropped that enormous bomb on me _after _we finished training?"

I exhaled through my nose in exasperation as Death responded with a short, simple,

"No."

Death also noticed my problem with applying my katas to a real life (hah, life) situation. My mind just went blank when facing an opponent, and after a few minutes of struggling to remember, I would end up swinging Ueta back and forth until it hit something.

Thus, Death decided that the best way to force my body to remember was to throw me into an all-out brawl with a platoon of Eki, along with him casually throwing daggers at me from time to time.

"And where –" _Clang! _

"- exactly –" _Coldcoldcold; mother – why are Eki so cold!_

"– is –" _Duck!_

"-Obito –" _Jabjabjab –_

"-right now!" With a finishing sweep, I swiped Ueta's blade across the remaining Eki, disconnecting their connection to my spiritual energy, and sending them back to the Underworld.

Slightly panting, I leaned against Ueta's staff and gave a pointed look at a blank-faced Death, who simply twirled a dagger in the air with his finger.

"North," He replied languidly, before finally putting away the dagger into his cloak. "Way past Takigakure and the Land of Sound."

_Far. _I immediately thought, calculating the number miles it would take to travel there.

"We need to get there as quickly as possible," Death noted with a rather feral grin, interrupting my fast-moving thoughts with a start. I nodded silently in return. Tomorrow was a day I absolutely _could not _oversleep on. "So we'll take the easy way out."

"What easy way –" Death lazily snapped his fingers and I blinked as a sudden burst of _massive _spiritual energy flooded the area.

And then we were gone in a flash, travelling faster than the eye could follow, all the way up north to certain place called Mountains' Graveyard.

_Where Obito is. _

~o~o~o~

"I wouldn't do that."

I froze in mid-step from approaching the floating, shimmering soul that was tied down to the physical plane; its body was only halfway inside the spiritual one.

Slowly moving back to Death (who was staring quite intensely at the trees below), I stared blankly at the blob of silver that was enthusiastically waving around in random motions.

"This is… Obito?" Death dropped his intense stare for a moment to glance at me and snorted.

"That's his _spirit._"

_Huh. _

_…_

_It acts like a rather enthusiastic puppy._

'Spirits' was the slang term for the inner essence of every soul. The real term was an overly complicated Latin name that the supernatural hardly ever bothered to remember (the gods included), so the core of every soul was simply called a 'spirit.'

Before coming to Mountains' Graveyard, I had never seen a 'spirit,' so I guess it was an educational opportunity of some sorts to see one so up close.

(Spirits were _rare_ in the spiritual plane, not to mention extremely popular; they were not only powerful and destructive, but they were apparently a _delicious _treat to eat for the stressed and weary.

…

No, Miu. Remember. Obito is your _friend. _Not your dinner).

The blob, as if sensing the downward spiral of my thoughts, excitedly ran (could blobs even do that?) up to Death and I, bouncing back and forth enthusiastically.

I opened my mouth hesitantly to ask –

"No. We cannot keep it." I closed it with a snap and gave a tiny scowl at Death's words. I wasn't going to ask that…

After a good few moments, I stopped and shook my head rapidly to clear out all of my wayward thoughts.

"Death, how will you…" I trailed off unsurely before focusing on the blob, then back down the ominous looking trees below.

Massive, decaying bones covered in moss filled the area, and there was a certain aura of _death _and _foreboding _that was strong enough to penetrate the spiritual plane as well.

We stood there, Death, the blob, and I, for a good four minutes before Death finally decided on the best course of action.

"Miu," I snapped to attention at Death's call, gripping Ueta Shishi's staff firmly as Death gazed at me with hard eyes. "I shall go down to the physical plane myself; stay here and no matter what: _do not follow._"

I gripped Ueta more tightly at his words, but gave a short, brisk nod in response.

And once again an enormous burst of energy flooded the area as Death flew straight down, breaking the barrier between the planes before heading for the ground and disappearing in a wisp of leftover energy.

There was silence for another four seconds before I dropped my guard briefly to let out a loud sigh.

Sitting properly on my knees and placing Ueta to the side, I gave a glance to the blob that hesitantly approached me before rubbing my neck wearily.

"I guess it's just you and me now."

The blob in return said nothing (as if could in the first place) and instead jumped rapidly up and down before settling down next to me.

Collectively ignoring the vibrations it seemed to exude (was it… purring? No, no, of course not), I winced as the first of many explosions blew up from below. The amount of malice and spiritual energy that burst into the spiritual plane almost overwhelmed me and the blob in response squirmed uncomfortably.

"Ah… It seems that Death is having some trouble."

And wasn't that fantastic?

Just exactly who was down there that could give even Death a run for his money?

_Someone powerful beyond all means. _

These bursts of energy continued on for a good forty minutes; and with each passing one, the blob became increasingly agitated.

"Hey, hey," I murmured softly, trying to calm it down while avoiding any contact. "What's wrong?"

The blob – or rather, Obito – twisted and turned, sliding back and forth as if tugged between a pair of selfish children who wanted their own turn at a new toy. I stared blankly at the new interpretive dance that it started to make for a good few minutes before grimacing at my stupidity.

_They're fighting over Obito. _I realized with a no small amount of grief. Staring at the pitiful blob, I shook my head slightly in reminder.

_Remember. Death said to not interfere. _

A voice slithered on my shoulders and whispered into my ear.

_No, he said to not come down. What did he say about the pitiful blob right here? _

I closed my eyes, trying to ignore the tantalizing urges that curled deep inside my head.

No, no, no. This was important. Part of the plot. Whether Death wins or loses matters not; your interference will make it worse. Don't touch the blob; don't touch the plot; _don't touch the future._

_And how will you know, _another voice pouted in my other ear, _if you don't even have your memories of this 'future?' _

I clenched my fists at the thought. But before I could convince myself even further, before I could strengthen my resolve, Obito's spirit shook violently – even more so than before – and _began to sink. _

Parts of Obito's spirit were rapidly disappearing down into the physical plane; I watched in gaping stupidity at the _unnaturalness _of it all. It was as if something was _forcing _Obito back into his decaying body – a body that couldn't even function properly, with failing organs and an un-beating heart.

The largest spiritual explosion yet burst into the plane and Obito's spirit continued to float quickly back into the physical plane. It wasn't until it let out the most pitiful squeak possible that I snapped out of my foolish trance.

"Obito!" I hastily grabbed Ueta Shishi and hesitated for a brief second before summoning a number of Eki from the Underworld.

"Grab onto me," I ordered firmly while ordering many others to hold gently onto the top of Obito's spirit, and pushed away the shiver that always came with touching an Eki. Ignoring the pale, gaunt hands that wrapped themselves around my waist, I allowed the Eki to line up behind each other for only a second before gently swinging Ueta's blade behind Obito's spirit.

"Obito," I called and for a brief second, Obito's spirit paused before returning to its violent thrashing. "Obito, I'm going to try to pull you back; no matter what, _do not touch Ueta's blade._"

(If Obito's soul got sucked into Ueta's hollow staff, then that would have been quite alright. He could go to trial for his 'benefactor's crimes – unfortunately – but he would be safe.

His spirit though? Offering only the deepest essence of the entire soul to the forever hungry Ueta Shishi?

Obito would be sliced and destroyed by Ueta's unforgiving blade; only souls were what it craved).

Setting the blunt part that connected the scythe to the staff around Obito's spirit, I silently counted to four before pulling with all my might – the Eki behind me following right after.

Thank Kami spirits were flexible; if not, Ueta would have most likely sliced the spirit in half.

But it didn't go as easy as I'd planned. Something – or somebody – was anchoring Obito to his body and it _wanted _Obito to return, almost as desperately as I wanted Obito to _not_.

I ended up sacrificing a good three-quarter part of my reserves to send for more Eki; there were so many I lost count, but now, Obito's spirit was finally being pulled outwards.

_Come on, Obito! Think about Rin; think about Kakashi! And Minato!_

(It was strange. In retrospect, if I really thought about it... If I allowed Obito to return to his body, then he would be alive – safe in the physical plane and off to see his teammates.

…

But there was a primal instinct in my bones that told me: screw the plot, screw the future. Obito _must not _come in contact with whoever was down there, fighting Death).

I gave up another half of my leftover reserves to call even more Eki, and finally, _finally, _Obito slowly but steadily began to return to the spiritual plane.

I'm not too sure how long we stayed there, the Eki and I, desperately trying to pull out Obito from whatever was anchoring him down there, but it was _long_. Countless, massive explosions burst into the spiritual plane, and many times were a couple Eki knocked out from the overwhelming pressure and sent back to the Underworld, causing me to give more even energy to compensate.

But it worked, in the end. Obito, after hours of mindless pulling and desperation, once again returned to the spiritual plane, but as a soul instead of a spirit. Dismissing the Eki with a nod in thanks, I leaned forward against my knees as exhaustion rom losing almost all of my spiritual energy overcame me, and stared at Obito's shimmering blob. It was starting to take shape; already I could see parts of Obito's soul forming together to bring him to shape.

I gave a small smile as Obito's head slowly appeared, followed by his neck, and then his torso, all the while sparkling and twinkling the entire time.

(Who knew Obito could actually look so… pretty?).

But I guess I should have paid more attention to the physical plane below, because the moment Obito's disappearance from the plane was clear, the explosions ceased and a deathly silence filled the trees.

And then it all went down to chaos.

Explosions went off like a minefield, knocking me off my feet as I struggled to keep a steady hold of Ueta. Wave after wave of _darkangrymalicious _energy hit me like a never-ending storm, but while it brought me to my knees, it was affecting Obito in a worse way.

Haphazardly throwing the lasts bits of my energy to cover his form, I flinched uncontrollably as a flood of the _angry _energy swarmed around me, jabbing me, taunting me, in a furious way.

And in return, I could only give a small smirk before feeling the world sway beneath my feet and the world turning uncomfortably black.

~o~o~o~

"- and what exactly were you thinking?"

I winced as Death's voice boomed across the room, but my face remained blank as I tried to reason.

"I couldn't just _let him slip through…_"

Death scowled briefly before pinching the bridge of his nose.

"… Do you know how much _paperwork _there will be because of this?"

…

I blinked.

_What? _

"Death…"

_I thought you were upset that I dragged Obito into the spiritual plane…_

Death paused in his mutterings to glance at me before waving his hand airily.

"No, no, what you did wasn't bad," I relaxed my shoulders in relief; well, that was one less thing to worry about. "But it wasn't that good either."

...

I sighed. _Of course. _

"Explain, Death." Death scratched his chin as his normal, bored looking face returned slowly with his composure.

"I sent a report to Shinigami-sama, and he brought it forth to the higher gods. Many wanted Obito cleansed and reset into the reincarnation cycle, but a few, such as Amaterasu-sama and Izanagi-sama, insisted that he be given another chance." Death stopped for a moment and turned to face me.

"So they gave him the status of Hi-Rensa."

My face stayed impassive as my whole body froze. Now this was a problem.

The status of Hi-Rensa was rarely given out to mortals. Literally meaning 'unchained,' those with Hi-Rensa had permission to pass their recorded time for death; but with that passing come nothing. Their time of death is indeterminable, so there will be no 'sudden' deaths or anything of the sort.

These people are quite literally, unchained from the bonds of fate.

But that's not necessarily a good thing. This means that if their body decides its dead, they're dead. There are no 'miraculous healings' (for those who pass before their time) and there are no 'lucky that missed your heart, your still alive anyways.'

One mistake and it's all over.

There are also a bunch of different rules and regulations surrounding this status, but that's the basic gist of it.

"I see," I frowned slightly at the new information. Hi-Rensa statuses always brought a headache for those who had to deal with the paperwork, but Death wasn't complaining only about that. "I suppose they declared this _before _you found Obito?"

Death nodded before bringing out a large stack of papers and placing it on a nearby desk.

(Here, I wondered. Does Death have an office for these sorts of things?).

"And I pulled him out of the physical plane…"

Death nodded again.

"And his body is currently decaying with no life support of the sort."

He paused before shaking his head with a grimace.

"No, someone else took over his body." I furrowed my eyebrows and frowned. Possessions were rare; especially if Death was in the area. Unless…

"Was it the person you were fighting against before?" Death scowled in response and rearranged the pile of papers in front of him, easily answering my question.

Though how exactly this person was able to do so was strange. Death probably allowed him or her to take over Obito's body simply because Obito needed it, and his body needed a soul to keep it alive. But how…?

"Miu," I snapped from my thoughts to give Death a questioning glance. The entity jabbed a thumb at a far corner in his world. "Since you were the one to pull your friend out, you have to deal with him."

And lo and behold, there was Obito, squirming in obvious terror, all the while blindfolded, gagged, and tied up with multiple ropes around his body.

Death's face twisted as he scowled even harder at my silent, accusing stare. Funny how I've seen more emotions (negative as they were) on Death in the past four hours than I had in the past two years.

"He was _irritating _me," Death hissed dangerously, like an indignant cat put under a rain shower. "He wouldn't _shut up."_

I nodded in understanding. Yes, yes. That was Obito.

Sighing, I quietly picked up a forgotten Ueta Shishi (who hummed in irritation at being so casually put aside) and quickly walked over to a defeated looking Obito.

Hastily untying his blindfold first, I found with a start that Obito still had two eyes; eyes that stared at me with complete fear.

(Hm. I suppose it was because he only just lost his eye; which is why his inner mind still views himself with two).

Forcing a smile that didn't quite feel right (still, why did Obito look even more terrified now…), slowly I leaned forward and rested the back of Ueta's blade behind my shoulder.

"Hey, Obito," I greeted in the friendliest tone I could muster. It wouldn't be good if I scared the kid, no?

Obito in return stared like a deer in headlights at me before letting out a muffled shriek (oh fudge, I forgot about the gag) and dropping to the floor in dead faint.

I froze, silently taking in the unconscious Uchiha in front of me and the quiet mutterings of a glasses-wearing Death.

_What did I do wrong…?_

-o-o-o-o-o-

* * *

A bit more light-hearted than I thought it would be, but, eh.

So, to once again clear out any confusion:

- Yes, just like canon Obito's spirit _was _halfway through the spirtual plane. However, unlike canon, Miu is now there, while Death battles Madara, and her interference causes a whole bundle of problems and plot changes and - ow. My head.

- Yes, Miu's memories have been tampered with. The gods simply do _not _like the idea of a mortal (regardless of whether she is an Apprentice) having the power of the future, but Death was able to salvage most of them. Thus, why Miu knows some of the future; she knows there's a war, and she knows of Itachi's future death, but she has absolutely no clue as to Madara's involvement in this matter. Or rather, she _did, _but now she doesn't.

So, that's all for today; I would love to hear all of your thoughts and speculations for future chapters - and I apologize once again for the overdue chapter.

And here's the omake:

* * *

**Omake**: _Surprise_

(Aka, 'If Miu had been born in Naruto's time, and joined Team 7 with Kakashi as sensei').

* * *

Kakashi stares at his new (and soon failed) genin team with an impassive face. Barely glancing at the red-headed girl to his left, he instead gives a cursory glance over his two... more problematic students.

Uchiha Sasuke, the only survivor of the Uchiha Massacre, glares back with a scowl, already seeing nothing in his new jonin sensei.

_Quick to judge,_ Kakashi quickly notes, unsurprised by the bit of information. If his files were correct (and they usually were), then Uchiha Sasuke is a 'avenger,' aiming to kill his only blood relative, and already headed towards a dark path of hatred and revenge.

And Sandaime wanted Kakashi to prevent this from happening?

He lets out a sigh at the troublesome amount of work he will have to go through - if the genin actually pass.

And before Kakashi can even notice, his eyes stray over to the one in the middle, Uzumaki Naruto, and suddenly his heart stings at how _similar _Naruto looks to his former sensei.

_Minato-sensei... if only you could see your son now... _

The files on Uzumaki Naruto are also unsurprisingly thick, listing all the pranks and detentions the blonde went through in his years at the Academy, and once again Kakashi is hit with a pang of nostalgia because no matter how much Naruto looks like his father, his personality is pure Kushina.

_And lastly... the civilian girl. _

Suzuki Miu is a wild card. The files on her are surprisingly very thin, hardly containing a page or two, which would have been fine had she been any other civilian child, but the girl is a civilian child of the _Suzuki Clan. _

Hardly any ninjas recognize the Suzuki Clan because it isn't a ninja one, but that doesn't mean that it isn't as powerful. With as much wealth as the Fire Daimyo and even more political ties, the Suzuki Clan is well-known in merchant and civilian circles for its respectable and honest ways along with having family members that excelled in practically every single field.

And judging from the way Suzuki holds herself, from her straight back to her formal place to her hands clasped firmly on her lap, she knows this as well.

There is a certain fire in her eyes as she looks straight at him; a certain defiance that dares him to overlook her, to ignore her in favor of her teammates.

Interesting. Her personality here seems to contradict the one her files (as lacking as they were) has described. The administrators of the Academy reported that Suzuki Miu was a shy person, refusing to speak with most and keeping her head down most of the times. She was always seen with a book in hand and a notebook in the other, and most of her classmates hardly knew she was even there.

All of these thoughts pass through Kakashi's calculating mind in a few mere seconds and with a clap, he asks (in a rather polite way if he said so himself) for introductions from each of his students.

For his first two students, Kakashi does not raise a single eyebrow in surprise. Uchiha Sasuke's and Uzumaki Naruto's introductions, though bringing a pang of pity and nostalgia, are simple enough. Unsurprising (though Kakashi takes note of the darkening edges of hatred around the Uchiha's chakra), and what he has expected.

Suzuki Miu however...

"My name is Suzuki Miu," The girl says shortly, and stays silent after that.

"Er, Mi-chan, what about the other stuff? Y'know, the likes 'n dislikes - "

"I heard, Naruto," Miu snaps lightly, with a fierce scowl. "And don't call me Mi-chan."

The red-head pauses before sighing and waving away Naruto's excessive apologies.

"My name is Suzuki Miu," She repeats with a blank face, and looks straight into Kakashi's single eye with piercing green orbs. "I like learning and reading, and my brother Fuuta. I dislike distractions and being underestimated. My hobbies are calligraphy and shogi, and my goal is to live past my sixteenth birthday."

There is silence as both Naruto and even Sasuke stare at the stone faced girl.

"... You're such an old lady, Mi-chan..." And then she snaps.

"No, I'm not!" Miu pauses before scowling again. "And stop calling me Mi-chan!"

"And why do you want to live past only your sixteenth birthday?" Kakashi asks mildly, breaking up the argument before Suzuki can throttle Minato-sensei's legacy.

The girl gives Kakashi a flat look, silently asking if he just came out of his mother's womb. When Kakashi gives only a cheerful smile in reply, she sighs once again and answers in a monotone, as if she has repeated the same thing a million times before:

"Sixteen is a multiple of four; not only that, but sixteen is the _square root of four. _It's four times four!" Kakashi blinks as Naruto scratches his head in confusion and Sasuke gives a snort. Apparently, Sasuke has heard this speech before as well.

"And what's even worse," Miu hisses softly, not noticing that her teammate next to her is slowly backing away in fear. "Is that two times two times two times two is sixteen, meaning two times itself four times is sixteen! And sixteen divided by four is _four_! And - "

"As much as we would all like to hear about how sixteen relates to four," Kakashi interrupts with a sliver of worry for the Suzuki child, but he shrugs it off as the girl flushes and mumbles an apology to a dearly confused Naruto. "I think it's best if you three know that you're not genin yet."

And as Kakashi takes in Sasuke's narrowed eyes and Naruto's loud protests and Miu's surprisingly unsurprised face, he can't help but wonder if it was a mistake to switch the Haruno girl with Suzuki at the last-minute; at least with Haruno, he would have one teammate with a stable mind.

(He passively ignores the fact that in his mind, he has already passed the genin; why not have some fun while he was here?).

* * *

Ah, Kakashi. How you frustrate me so...

He's just an overly complex character; it makes me want to adore and throttle him at the same time.

So, thoughts?

Regards,

Searching. For. Enadi.


End file.
